


Zootopia Changes

by Azamandus



Series: Zootopia Night of the Beast [2]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:14:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23699842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azamandus/pseuds/Azamandus
Summary: Judy and Nick's relationship proves to be way more complicated than they thought, things are happening that have started to have a profound change on the two lovers. This story takes up, where Night of the Beast ended.
Relationships: Judy Hopps & Nick Wilde
Series: Zootopia Night of the Beast [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697821
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. Getting hitched

Chapter 1 Getting hitched

“Ok! I think being torn apart, because we get married, is fucked up!” The passenger sitting next to them on the train covered her little boys ears, and glared at Nick.

“Sorry my soon to be husband is a bit over-excited.” The female possum nodded, but they got up and moved to the next compartment. “We’re on leave, Nick I don’t mind working out in meadowlands when we get back, what’s gotten in to you anyway?”

“All right, I spoke to Stasha, seems her and Barry they...anyhow I spoke to her about ITF, I did a little digging after we moved and when I did I got a phone call from ITF. It seems they have been watching our career, in fact they search for couples like us.”

“What’s it all about Nick?” 

“It’s because they need people who are connected like we’re connected I guess, they brought up cases we had worked, and showed me how we just seem to flow together as a team, and when we don’t, we fail pretty drastically. Like last fall, when Bogo put us on opposite shifts, our performance levels went in the toilet.”

“Next station, Bunnyburrow 2 minutes.”

“Let’s talk about this after huh, can we just put our happy faces on and, go meet your relatives and oh god my relatives to?” 

Judy cracked a slight grin. “Uh so are there butterflies in your stomach to Nick?”

“This stress has me so uptight, I feel like I want to vomit!”

The train pulled into the station and Nick helped Judy get the bags off. As they cleared the door, nick noticed a commotion at the end of the platform. “You are crazy!”

“We have always used roses, never once used honeysuckle for a wedding ever!

Judy and Nick got to the end of the platform and identified the screamers it was his and Judy’s moms arguing at the top of their lungs.

“Mom we’re here.” Bonnie looked up.

“Oh sweet juniper, Judy Mrs Wilde and I, were just having a discussion about flowers, how was the trip out?” Judy glared at her mom, raising an eyebrow.

“I think the entire platform could hear your discussion with Mrs Wilde mom, Judy turned to Nicks mom and stuck out her hand. Hello Mrs Wilde, I’m Judy, pleased to meet you finally.” Kiti Wilde was just a little flustered, she’d been arguing with Bonnie Hopps all morning, it was becoming a wedding nightmare.

“Oh...yes sorry, we must have sounded like two quarrelsome old women.” Kiti reached out and shook Judy’s hand, a look of guilt on her face, when she glanced over it matched Bonnies look.

“Uh, hey Bonnie, maybe we should gather our ideas together and let Judy decide, what she and Nick would like to have, does that sound fair?” 

“I’d say that sounds, just about perfect, sorry Judy this hasn’t been as easy as either Kiti or I thought when she got here the other day, but I agree, you need to be involved.”

Nick loaded the bags into the back of the Hopps family pickup, and watched as the three women talked, if it was female talk, he didn’t want to be anywhere near that time bomb. He climbed up in the back and waited, while the conversation went on, then helped Judy up, the two older women got in the cab.

“So that sounded like world war three, it looked like they were getting ready for a knock down drag out cat fight.” Judy rolled her eyes at him, and sighed.

“My mom can be thickheaded sometimes,family traditions, music, and don’t even get me started she’s already picked out the dress I’m supposed to wear, Nick it sounds like a nightmare!” The heavy sigh, made Nick put his arm around her shoulders.

“There’s always time for us to elope you know?” The glare he got from that statement, made him shiver. “Uh, I take that as a no.” Judy’s foot started tapping, that was never a good sign. He sighed and kissed her on the cheek. “We’ll get through this, some how we’ll get through this, together right?” Her slight smile,made him grin to.

They pulled into the Hopps family estate, and Nick immediately got bushwhacked by his uncle Burt and Stew Hopps.”Nicky boy, come with us! Ole Stew and I, need to borrow you for a few!” Stew and Burt, dragged Nick out of the truck, and pushed him along into the barn.

“Nicky this is going to be the best bachelor party ever! Stew here is a genius, he and I have been working on this since the crack of dawn!”

Stew took over from there, it sounded like he and Nicks uncle Burt, were in perfect sync with each other. “Yeah Burt came up with the wet tee-shirt contest, I tossed in the stripper popping out of a cake, boy this will be a real blow out to remember!” Nick’s face had a look of utter astonishment, as they dragged him through some of the smuttiest sounding things, the two sick minded old perverts could come up with between them. As he listened, it just kept escalating to the stripper popping out of the cake.  
“Your mother and I got a little overheated I think on the flowers for the wedding ceremony, maybe with your help, we can come to an agreement on things.”

Judy had been seated at the long dining room table in the main hall, her mother and Nicks mother were grilling her about making choices. “Just stop!” The two older women both turned to stare at Judy. “I can see both of you have ideas, write them down and I promise to look at all of them ok? Nick and I just got here, it was a long day, and we neither one of us slept very well last night. I think it’s from to much stress, and this is just what neither of us needs!” 

Judy got up and walked out the door. She walked to the barn and came up on the older men, explaining a second time to a grinning Nick, what they had in mind for his bachelor party. Judy put up her hand,grabbed Nick and dragged him out the barn door the older men protesting his abduction.

Her dad came out to protest his case, Judy turned and gave him her angry glare, the one she used on perps. Stew Hopps backed up, he knew that look it was the same one his wife got with him when he had seriously screwed something up. He immediately backed off,dragging Burt along with him.”Not a good time, I think.”

She kept dragging him down the wooded path that led to the pond. “Oh thank god, I was beginning to have a brain melt down, your dad and my uncle are two serious perverts, I didn’t know if I was going to get out of there.”

“Cut the shit Wilde...I saw that shit eating grin on your face when I walked in, you were loving it!”

“Ok so some of the stuff they were telling me was...was exciting, I ain’t getting married ever again and well.”

“If you don’t put those hot lips of yours to mine in the next 30 seconds, I will scream so loud the next county will hear me!”

They had reached the end of a dock, that stretched into the pond. His kiss was just what she needed. They sat, took off their shoes and socks, and soaked their feet in the cool water. She put her head on his shoulder and sighed. The moon was just coming up, it had been a busy day and the afternoon train trip hadn’t been as nice as she had previously had.

“I just had to get out of there, does the water feel nice?

“Yeah it feels nice, he glanced around and the crickets started calling as night fell. So I had a naughty thought, seeing as were here anyway feel like doing...a little skinny dipping might be relaxing and fun?”

Judy raised an eyebrow. “That sounds fun, but uh...there’s a serious chance we could get caught doing that here.”

“Bawk...bawk..bawk.”

Judy glared at him then laughed. “Alright I am not chicken, you have been warned!”

They stripped out of their clothes right there on the dock, and slipped down the ladder into the cool water. She tread water next to him, her smile made him grin they finally just held on to the ladder and started kissing. 

Suddenly Judy’s ears shot up. Her eyes opened wide. “Hey wonderful night to go fishing, hey guys!” Judy dragged him under the dock, she knew that voice it was one of her male cousins, the next voice was her older brother, and her younger brothers chimed in to, sounded like 6 in total they came down the dock, she could hear their boots up there.

Older brother Rob found the pile of clothes.”Well lookie here guys, seems somebody is here before us. Now wouldn’t it just be a shame iffen these here clothes were to go missing?” She heard him picking their stuff up and all of them ran, boots pounding off laughing at the top of their voices.

Judy pulled her hand away from his mouth. “I hate your male family members, you know that right!?”

“I didn’t know they would take our clothes, I am going to get really mad when I see them.”

“We’re going to have to get back without anyone seeing us.”

They climbed the ladder and dashed for the cover of the treeline. Right into the beam of a flash light. “Oh my!”

Judy stared at 8 of her female cousins, and her younger sister. Nick held her hand as the two of them tried to explain what had happened. “We went for a dip, and Rob stole our clothes!” The female cousins laughed but they promised to help.

Anna had never seen a boy before, she’d just turned 18, and been allowed to join the adult cousins on the trip to the pond that night. She stood there entranced by her soon to be brother inlaws figure. “So Anna, go on back and get them clothes right?” Anna nodded snapping out of it.

Anna ran back and started finding pieces of clothing tossed along the other path that went to the pond,the boys must have come back this way, that must be how they had missed seeing them.  
She finally ran into Rob. “What the hell are you doing Anna?”  
“I’m cleaning up your mess, do you know whose clothes these are?” He laughed.

“Nope could care less, someone is going to have fun going home.”

“Really..these are Judy and her soon to be husbands clothes, they were taking a swim to relax, and you know what will happen when Judy tells mom what you did right?” Robs face paled. He grabbed the clothes and shoes from Anna, and ran back towards the pond.

The girls had surrounded Judy and Nick, blocking the view of them from night time strollers.  
“Hey I...I wanted to apologize Judy, I didn’t know it was you and Nick, please don’t tell mom, she’d kill me, I wouldn’t see the light of day till next year.”

Judy reached through the surrounding cousins and let her older brother squirm for a bit. “I’ll think about it Rob, that was a really mean thing to do, and you know it! I would have thought being older then me you would act more like an adult maybe I should tell dad how you acted instead, think you would get your certification then!”

Robs face turned white. “You wouldn’t do that to me would you sis, I really didn’t mean.”

“Shut it, maybe I will and maybe I won’t but you just embarrassed me and my Fiancee, and I am pissed!” Nick had been putting his clothes on, and saw the look on her face, yep definitely her angry face.

“Hey Judy, why don’t you let me talk to him,before you go and turn him in to the parent patrol huh?” His whispered words made her stop and consider a second.

“If he doesn’t listen,then I am going to Dad, Mom might be bad but Dad, dad will make him suffer for acting like a child!” Her whispered return, was just low enough that only the cousins could have heard it.

“So Rob is it, let’s take a little walk huh, maybe we can figure out a way you can make it up to your sister and I right.” Rob followed Nick as he headed off down the path he and Judy had come here on. “So I realize you were just having fun at someone else's expense, but Judy well you really embarrassed her big time, she’s got all this stress, and you just dumped more on her head, you know if you want to impress a woman you don’t go around being an asshole.”

Nick glanced over and saw he had Robs attention. “So I bet your sweet on some cutie around here aren’t you?” Rob nodded. “What if that had been you and your girl back there, instead of me and your sister, wouldn’t you be devastated?” Rob stopped what if it had been him and Clover.

“Tell Judy I’m going to Dad.” Rob just walked away, he didn’t even wait for Nick to reply.

Nick walked back and ran into Judy and the rest heading back. “Where’s Rob?”

“He said he was going back,and talk to your Dad himself, he told me to tell you.”

Judy’s face went through a series of emotions and stopped on surprise. “He went to talk to Dad himself? That’s what he said exactly those words?”

“Yep, was trying to get him to see how he’d hurt you, he just nodded and said he was going to talk to your Dad.”

The cousins and Anna all made astounded noises, they knew something that apparently Nick didn’t about Rob talking to Judy’s Dad.

When they got back, the entrance to the Burrow was alive with activity. Judy walked up and spotted her dad and a few of the uncles coming out all in their ceremonial robes. In the middle of the older men, was Rob.

Nick started to move towards the men,and Judy dragged him back. “I’ll explain inside, you can’t help him now.”

They got inside and Judy dragged him into a storage room for this floor. “Nick my brother has taken his adult responsibility on his own shoulders, what that means is he will go through the trial of adulthood he may or may not come back here after tonight, if he does then he will have passed. If he doesn’t he will be considered a family outcast.”

They were in the middle of dinner and Stew and the uncles returned, but Rob was nowhere to be seen. Nothing was said but Judy smiled at him sitting across from him. As they walked back to their room, which had been Judy’s childhood room, she stopped him the the hall and explained.

“My brother took responsibility for his actions and by doing so he basically told my dad he was an adult, it looks like he passed the trials, that means he’s now considered a Bachelor, and he will now begin his journey into buckhood. I actually am happy for him, it means he’ll finally be able to stake a territory, and ask for Clover’s hand in marriage.”

“Sounds like another of the things I wouldn’t have been told about, except that I was directly involved, rabbit culture sounds complex.” Judy nodded but she smiled and softly kissed him.

“He actually acted like an adult, without having to have someone bring him to task.”

Rob was back late in the afternoon the next day, his face had scratches, but he came in quietly with a cute female rabbit hand in hand. The women of the family all got up and went to greet her, Judy pulled away from him and said she would be back in a few minutes.  
Judy hugged Clover,she could see how nervous her future sister in law was, but the greetings of the female family members, made her more at ease.”He talked to Dad, he took responsibility for his actions were you excited when he showed up to challenge for the rights?” The whispered words brought a smile to Clovers face.

She leaned in to Judy and whispered back. “I was being approached by Sam Buckthorn, he came to challenge, then Rob showed up. They went to the circle over me, and Rob won,I’m so happy he won the rights Judy. I’ve been in love with him for two years, and he would never go to the spring challenge, he kept saying next year,but I guess whatever happened made up his mind.”

Rob took his place at the adult table, and no one questioned him about sitting there. “I have chosen the plot by Madison pond for my stake Dad, I plan to break ground on it tomorrow, I would request the use of the tractor to help me if it’s allowed?” Stew smiled and nodded his approval. Nick noticed none of the female members said anything to Rob, he would have to ask Judy why later.

Nick walked with Judy back to their room after dinner. “Why don’t any of the female members of the family speak to Rob now?” Judy put a hand to his lips.

“He’s not married yet, he has brought back his bride to be, that’s a good indicator but until he marries her, no female from his family or the brides family are allowed to speak to him, it’s a part of our cultural tradition Nick. You being an outsider usually would never get to see that, but since you’re involved with me, and I was chosen by mom to be the patron elect, oh god Nick, that’s something else I need to explain. Her worried expression was stilled by his kiss.

“Slow down Carrots, and breath ok that’s better now what’s this about this Patron elect thing?”

“Well..I uh, because I have shown such a drive to achieve goals, the current elders namely mom and dad they..fuck it! I am not beating around the bush!” She dragged him into the room and slammed the door.”They told me I am the next head of family Nick, it’s not set in stone, but this kind of thing usually means I would be the next female head of our Burrow.”

“I can see by the look on your face, you don’t want the responsibility plain as day.”

Her eyes met his, and he could see a war of emotions going on behind her eyes. “Nick being head of family, is I don’t know if we could do it, the things you would have to learn to be my suitor are so complex...would you go through?” His lips came in then, and stilled her words.

He lifted her in his arms and put her on the bed. His touch was gentle like it always was,but there was a feeling of something more behind what he was doing. He slowly undressed her each bit falling to the floor was sensually accompanied by a soft kiss. “Let me tell you a little story, it’s about this cute female rabbit who went to the police academy, after being told all of her life she would never be able to achieve that goal. Ah who am I kidding, you know that one already, but that same woman is laying here now telling her soon to be husband. I can’t do that Nick, seems to me challenge has been part of your life since you were a kid,why would that suddenly change?”

He undressed and climbed into bed with her. “Nick do you really think you could...learn all of the stuff you would have to be involved with? You’re not a male rabbit, you don’t know our cultural traditions,our rituals or any of the things we follow as part of rabbit society!”

“I know this, right now I have plans to accomplish one goal this evening, and that is to finish my traditional bonding ritual with my soon to be mate. Judy there’s something I need to tell you...before now every time we have had sex, I have been holding back. I was not sure if...if our biology, was well, if you would be able to,uh go through the full ritual. I have to explain something, my leash has ancient traditions to. One of them is the ritual of joining, the leash gathers together. The couple who make a bonding claim they...they have to prove to the leash, they are truly a mated pair.”

“Were getting married isn’t that proof enough?” He knew he had to explain, would she be able to grasp, just what was required.

“Listen...just listen for now. My entire adult family will come tomorrow evening as a leash, we being the perspective new couple will be given a very special set of matching, well very intimate pieces of jewelry,uh this set of jewelry, uh...is placed on the genitalia of the, uh perspective mates these pieces of jewelry are linked, I don’t know how, the things have been passed down since...well since my family’s recorded history.

“This ritual sounds very intimate Nick, uh what happens, if well what happens during it,it sounds like you’re afraid I won’t be accepted.”

“The leash will come we will be taken to the woods closest by,and they will form a circle around us, we will be stripped by the ritual, our bodies will be painted with our life tales to date, by the male and female members of the leash. Males painting my tale, and females painting yours. They will cover our naked bodies with these pictures. Then we..we have to perform the mating ritual if we achieve sync, then our houses will be joined forever. If we fail, then our marriage will be considered a sham. I will be ostracized from our leash, and regardless of a marriage vow, my relatives will leave that next morning,without a single word spoken to anyone here.” 

“So a complex ritual, the entire adult family on your side will, they will watch us have sex right there in that circle of people? Well isn’t that just a strange kettle of Carrot stew, I guess since we’re dropping ritual bombs that could wreck our lives forever, my family has the shivaree Nick, and just like your people it’s a intimacy ritual, Nick let’s do what we need to tonight but right after that we need to get your mom and my mom in a quiet place,because our family rituals are,dear sweet god very very much the same.”  
Sex started out just like usual,Judy could feel his nervousness. She told him to relax, they needed to let it flow naturally. “Are you certain? What’s about to happen is the most intimate act a fox has with his wife?”

“Nick, we are in love, and I want it all Nick, I’m not certain but I think our being together is destiny.”

“Then I’ll start the ritual.” His tongue felt like a wet trail of living flame as he caressed her body dragging it in a very intimate way touching her nipples, trailing up to her neck he stopped and the kiss was deep,wet and long.Her breath was quickening, the intimate touch had her so excited already. The first part of the ritual ended and he had her turn over and get into the doggy style position, they had previously used. It felt like he had used that time before, to test their compatibility. “I love you Judy...ready?” 

She giggled and shook her ass at him.”Put it in already romeo, let’s do this thing, and you better not hold back! I want it all understand!” 

“Oh really, you sure you can take that kind of pleasure? He was teasing her but the words meant nothing. He followed the ritual exactly and gently entered her, the hip thrust was a lot harder then he had used before. Judy inhaled and let out a small moan, that had felt deep, his thrusts weren’t painful but they were deeper then he had ever gone during sex. 

She tried to let her mind drift, to feel her way through what was happening between them, she felt an inner heat building, as they got deeper into the ritual. Her panting was in sync with his hip thrusts, she dragged her fingers through the sheets. Here it came, she let out a long drawn out moan of intense release. She could feel him in sync with her perfectly, he came forward just as she hit orgasm and she felt him fully penetrate her. He swelled inside her then, Nick turned his entire body in a spasm of intensity that sent erotic jolts through her, they were linked physically.

The erotic intensity of their joining continued for almost half an hour, she could feel him throbbing inside her the entire time. This was how foxes mated, she finally felt his retraction as he slowly, ever so tenderly withdrew from her. “We did it,we did it love!”

Judy turned to him then and pushed him on his back.”You sir..have been holding back on the best sex I have ever had in my life. We will be having that every time understand, oh god Nick, why didn’t you tell me that’s how good sex could be with you?”

“Well it’s uh if I lose myself, control wise uh I don’t know, we male foxes we can get really passionate, I was scared I might enter the trance state, and that could be rather erotic, a very long time.”

“You’re fucking with me right? Tell me the whole truth, what we just had was pretty intense!”

“Uh I have an uncle, he and his wife can go as long as 90 minutes, when they come out of the mating their brains are basically mush, but they are way into middle age and still going strong.”

Judy’s mouth dropped open, but she could sense on a primal level he was telling the truth. “We could be having what we just did, for...an hour and a half? Dear sweet JuJu, let it be so,let it be so! Fuck Nick, that is almost unreal!”

I’ve never once tested my stamina time Judy, I have never done the ritual mating with another woman, that’s for us to explore. Now didn’t you say we needed to go talk to your folks?”

“No we need to have both families together, it’s time this wedding got dragged into the light of reality. My family ritual would normally be done after we get married,but that changes tonight!”

Judy didn’t get fully dressed, she dragged her bathrobe on and had him do the same. “Ok, time to go be adults!” She took him by the hand and went all the way down to the main hall. She went to the entry, and reached for a stick on a hook by the door.

Judy struck the gong, every adult rabbit stopped and poked their heads out to look down from whatever balcony they were on at who had struck the summoning gong. Within minutes, Stew and Bonnie came up, with the rest of the adult family. 

“Mom please send for my soon to be mother inlaw, all of you need to know what will happen tomorrow evening, and I am not going to want to go through this a second time. Nick and I will wait in the parlor.”

Half an hour later Foxes and Rabbits sat closely together packed into the parlor, Judy and Nick stood in the middle of the room. “Being the bride, I guess I should explain our ritual that is part of any marriage in this burrow.” Bonnie made to clear her throat, Judy glared at her. “They have rituals to mom, and it’s time all of us talk about them, theirs is as intense as ours mom,and we both want to perform them both!”

The faces around them looked concerned. Kiti Wilde stood up and went to Bonnie. “I think our children are being more adult than we are, let’s let them tell us what they want shall we?” Bonnie smiled and took Kiti's out stretched hand. 

“Well it looks like my daughter is bound and determined to let our rituals out to outsiders, but she is the elect, I guess it’s fair to let her soon to be consorts family in on our lives.” 

Judy and Nick both explained in intimate detail what each family’s private traditional rituals involved, the faces around them were shocked and surprised, looks of understanding soon came over them as they finally heard out the full story.


	2. Rituals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wedding day for Nick and Judy proves unexpectedly different as two houses learn old traditions really matter.

Chapter 2 Rituals

“So we will start with the purification rituals, then follow with our ritual, each of us knows what is required.” Nick finished and sat down he nervously glanced at the Rabbit side of the table, and smiled shyly. 

“I agree totally, Nick and I can do this, we know that both families want to have us observe the traditions. Judy reached for Nicks hand, he smiled at her, and we want both sides to be satisfied.”

Kiti and Bonnie were sitting close together now, they seemed deep in conversation. Judy sighed the two families were deep in conversation with the other side, and ignored Judy and Nick leaving. “So we talked about my families ritual, what’s your side like?”

“We start with a purification ritual the bride and groom are taken to the hot spring, the steam lodge is used there, the oils used are lightly scented, then they are dashed into the cleansing pool which is icy cold. The ritual robes are worn to the joining ceremony, we recite our heart poems and then our hands are joined, after the priest pierces are hands, they are bound together with a silk cloth, and our two bloodlines are joined.”

They climbed into bed, comfortable with each other, he leaned in and kissed her. “You would never know it but our families have a very cultured history, to think tradition would play such a role, would I have seen any of it if you hadn’t been chosen elect?”

Judy swallowed. “No the short answer is no, there have been outsider weddings in the past,but they are usually on offshoots lines. My family is the head house of our Burrow Nick, and being chosen like this makes it part of my duty from now on, so do you have a problem being known as my consort here?” 

“Nope titles aren’t a big thing to me, but to be honest. I am from a long line, our heritage stretches back in our family history for over 800 years. We have served as soldiers,been explorers, traders and even for a short time shadow warriors, agents used by the various governments to be spies and one ancestor was a deadly assassin. So feared, to speak his name was to commit treason, against the false ruler of that era. I never knew we would be dragging out all of this into the open, but our families aren’t hiding anything any more, did you see how quietly my mom and your mom were talking?”

“Both of our families come from ancient heritages Nick, maybe my drive to become a cop comes from an ancestor of mine, his name was Yojimbo, he was a wander who joined our ancient family when we first settled here, my family has lived in these lands ever since, the ancient cherry tree planted by the hot spring is his legacy, there is a poem plaque under the tree, that tells his story. I used to read it, when I was a little girl.” ( Usagi Yojimbo for those who know his tale.)

They fell asleep in each others arms the next day was going to be a legendary day.

“Good morning, Nick kissed her when her eyes opened. So we are having breakfast here I guess, here you go.” Nick handed her a tray a hearty breakfast was just she had wanted.

“I guess the ceremony will start at 10AM that’s what the note says here.” Nick smiled as he handed the note to her, mid morning was unusual, she quickly ate, and smiled at him.

“That is the earliest time I’ve ever seen, I guess they want to get an early start, are you nervous Nick?” He nodded.

“Yeah a bit, I think these old traditions were made more for others, then the actual people involved but I can see, well they have their place.”

“Rituals I guess, do you think our families can get along?”

“I think we are going to find out. Judy nodded and leaned in for a kiss.

“Did you want to do anything before we head there?”

“No I think we should just relax, till we need to get dressed and head to the ceremony, how does that sound?”

“Pretty good actually, I got out of that silly bachelor party, everything changed when the talk of sharing each other’s rituals started, do you think this will change the perceptions of people here?”

“I never wanted to become the head elect Nick, I guess my parent’s saw how I had changed, but without a support to have my back, I’d never be able to run the family. Mom and Dad aren’t ready to retire yet, but I’ll need to start learning everything. It doesn’t mean I’ll have to stay here, it just means my lessons and I suppose yours, will have to begin soon.”

Right at ten the ritually robed figures came for them, the females took Judy, the males took Nick, they were led away in different directions.

Nick was taken to a secluded room with a writing desk in the center of it. He understood from Judy just what he would need to do here, and sat to contemplate his poem.

He picked up the pen and began to write. An hour later the robed figures returned. “Have you completed your poem yet?”

Nick held the rolled up poem over his head, “Yes it’s complete, we can proceed to the next part of the ritual now.”

Judy smiled when her mother opened the door and asked if her poem was complete. “Yep had it done in ten minutes, but you knew that, I saw someone peeking through the spy hole up there.”

“I was not informed of that, I suspect Anna has been overly excited since she only reached her adult status you know how that can be.”

Judy laughed and exited the room,she handed her mother the rolled up poem and went with the women to the springs. The steam rising from the hot spring made her grin, it had been a good while since she had come to visit the family hot spring.

The women stripped the street clothes off of her and helped her into the hot water, her mother brought the oils out, and Judy knew the exact same thing was happening on Nicks side of the fence,she could hear male voices over there.

The true wedding would be in the ancient way, Judy’s mom watched a tear in her eye her little girl had come so far, she’d become the elect, because she had the fire in her to do it. Bonnie nodded to Kiti, Nicks mother had slipped right into traditions like she was born to them. “Your traditions are very much like our own Bonnie, to think our two families are allowing each of our secrets out to be shared with another, I think if we had discussed this truth before all of that modern nonsense, we might have come to a quick agreement don’t you think?”

“That’s for sure, so when our part is done, all of us will witness the blood bonding, with that act our clans, excuse me, our two families will become blood bound relations.”

The two women stood together and Bonnie reached out and hugged Kiti. “I think all of the modern things we use to hide the truth, aren’t worth anything compared to heritage and tradition,your own rites sound grounded in a warrior background. We will need to further explore our joint traditions and find where the twain meets in the cosmic scheme.”

Kiti smiled the two families had long histories, she had been given old scrolls from the Hopps family archives, and begun to read the long story, they followed an oral tradition and Kiti knew the history, she had been telling Bonnie the story of the Wilde clan heritage ever since they discovered the families had such ancient beliefs.

“It’s time for the cleansing, Judy are you prepared?”

Judy was dreading this part the icy water wasn’t her cup of tea,but she steeled herself. “I’m prepared.” The women came forward and with gentle hands lifted her from the waters the cold bath was a shock,she came up shivering, but glad the cleansing was done. The beautiful Yukata they wrapped her in was decorated with lilies, a pale white silk, the lily's a bright pink, the sandals were soft and warm as she stepped into them.

The two lines met as they ascended the path leading to the top of the hill above the hot springs.  
Judy heard a voice calling and noticed four polar bears dressed in fine suits standing off the path, Her brother Rob was standing with the special guests. Judy was surprised that other outsiders, had been allowed to see so far into the families secrets.

As they approached, Judy could understand the voice she had heard it was Fru-fru, and with her was her father, the Polar bear in charge of the Dons men held a small platform they were both standing on. Judy and Nick stopped the procession to speak to Mr Big and Fru-fru. “I’m happy to see you both were allowed to come this far, Nick and I well our families seem to have had a lot of secrets they were keeping, we will be having a second ceremony for the public, but this is a traditional one, the real one we are going to now. Please don’t be angry, this is a very personal thing.”

“It’s a family thing, you don’t have to explain further were just happy you invited us to attend, being part of a family myself, it behooves us to observe traditions Fru-fru and I will be at the public ceremony this afternoon. I just wanted to give you both my blessing before you both go get married. He had Judy come down and kissed both of her cheeks. “You have been kind to my family, this will always be remembered. Hey Nick you have the blessing, now go make this beautiful woman a bride.”

Her Grand father met them at the family shrine, his robe was bright red marked with the circle of life on the back, he turned as the procession approached and raised the dagger above his head intoning the ancient prayers.

They read their poems after they were exchanged, Nicks was a haiku on her beauty, Judy had chosen to use a traditional angelic style. The silk was brought forth her Father and mother held it as her Grand father pricked the tiny pricks into the bride and grooms palms. The silk was wrapped tightly forming the blood bond between the two families.

Her Grand father finished the blessing ritual and it was done. Judy got excited, now would come the second, very erotic part of the new tradition they were making. It had been familiar,but now his side of the ceremony was about to begin, Nick lifted her into his arms,he would be required to carry her to the next area, Uncle Burt and Nicks brothers had been shown a location where they had prepared for next ritual.

Judy whispered low in his ear.”So I’m really uh very nervous, can we do this Nick, I mean we only tried it once. His whispered return made her grin.

“Listen just ignore everything else but me, nothing and no one besides you and me exists, we are alone in the universe, our zen will find the way, I love you, so the flame will ignite.”

Kiti stood at the entrance of a stone circle a blanket of soft spruce tips had been used to provide a soft place for the new couples testing, it was covered in a blanket. Half of the circle were Judy’s female cousins and older sisters, Bonnie walked in trailed by her husband. The women moved to conceal Judy in their midst, the same happening to Nick. Kiti brought out the ritual inks and the story painting began, nearly two hours later they had been covered in designs. The gathered onlookers formed a tight circle around the couple and the music began. Right on cure Nick took her gently in his arms. “Remember only you and I exist!” The rite was erotic,he was intent on giving her as much pleasure as they had already tried together, she felt her pulse racing, all thoughts focused on him. Her touch excited him to greater heights, finally the real test. Judy moaned as he entered her, the thrusts came in hard, she shivered,he was matching the intensity they had had the previous night. He drove in hard, she felt the heat climbing as they came together, in a carnal erotic dance of sexual pleasure. 

He fully penetrated her, she felt him expand inside her, her breathing was shallow and rapid,his turn set her on fire as he throbbed inside her. They held, Judy felt like she was melting inside, the heart beat pulse of the throb inside her, drove her to a hard orgasm. The intensity kept building, Nick wasn’t stopping, she could feel him burning up as he continued to throb, the gathered observers started to sigh around them, the young couple passed the hour mark and still had not separated. 90 minutes and finally Nick withdrew his breathing was heavy and his eyes had dilated from his extreme focus. The cheer around them brought Judy back from the erotic trip her body had taken, in the throes of that very intimate joining. 

Robes were returned to them and they were carried back to the Hopps family burrow by the assembled onlookers. The young couple were allowed to rest till later in the afternoon, when they arrived for the public ceremony, they giggled in the shower washing the stories off. Judy smiled the white roses and Honeysuckle were intertwined throughout the entire church, the dress she wore was white silk with a long train and a veil, she looked and spotted Nick awaiting her at the platform as she approached. Aunt June started the wedding march.Two of the younger female cousins, began broadcasting white rose petals on the path ahead of her.

It seemed so surreal to Judy, her and Nick had come to be mates, and their lives had been tested and found strong. The pastor finished, they said their I do’s and she leaned in as Nick raised her veil and kissed her. The applause from the onlooking guests made Judy blush, Nick laughed at that, then got down on one knee. He reached under there and eased her garter belt off, tossing it. Robs out stretched hand intercepted it, his eyes immediately going to Clover a smile on his lips.

Judy turned away and tossed her bouquet over her shoulder, Anna hadn’t been paying attention her glance and grab caught the flowers as they came down. A look of astonishment on her 18 year old face. Some of the older cousins jeered at her, but it was a fair catch.

She and Nick ran out of the church and back towards the burrow, he kept laughing till she kicked off the shoes and picked up the dress. They ran all the way back to Judy’s room, when they got there Nick stopped her from entering. “Well Mrs Wilde,shall we do this the right way then?” He picked her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold, her giggle made him start to laugh.

“So I think our two families have discovered, what I came to understand a while ago, that you and I are pretty complex people. You know I really am glad I didn’t get dragged into the silly bachelor party, I guess I don’t have eyes for anyone else besides you babe.”

Judy’s smirk told him she didn’t believe a fucking word about the bachelor party part. “You know as a consolation we could, her breathy whisper sent a line of red up his face. She peeled out of the beautiful dress and let it fall to the floor, then melted into his arms as she started to undress him. Nick smiled and helped, they climbed into bed, each of them smiling. They were doing this as a couple now, a married couple, the sex would be more meaningful now, to both of them.

“It's not going to be as long as our wedding ritual, I’d have to build my stamina back up, that kind of intense sexual contact takes an immense amount of concentration. Her lips stilled what he was saying.

“Nick I don’t give a damn about that..I just want you now!”

“So Mrs Wilde aren’t we just the demanding little dickens, hmmm!”

His teasing was just that, the sex was gentle but not overly long, they both enjoyed what they had. An hour later Judy lay on his chest, listening to his soft heart beat. He was stroking her ears tenderly, she would have to tell him eventually just how intimate that touch was meant to be, but for now she kept it a secret.

At 6 on the dot a knock came on the door, Judy smiled it was time for the wedding feast, a time for the new families to bond together over food and drink. A time for the new couple to be seen by other invited guests, and mingle with the rest of the world.

They walked in on a boisterous, very vulgar drinking song it looked like both male family members knew on both sides from the look of it. Her father and Nicks uncle were the culprits she observed, who had instigated the whole thing.

Nick leaned in and whispered.”See, told you they were perverts.”

The guests finally noted the couples presence and the vulgar song instantly stilled, as other guests not from immediate family started to file in past the couple, who stood at the doorway, greeting each invited guest.

Judy started laughing, She whispered in Nicks ear as guests filtered in. “My dad and your uncle are drunk, my dad doesn’t usually get drunk, I think we can excuse what we heard, but uh maybe we’ll talk to my mom I wonder where your mom and my mom are?”

Nick looked around, and noticed her absence. “Huh maybe they got to talking, they’ll be here soon I bet.” Ten minutes later Bonnie and Kiti finally walked in, the two women were very deep in conversation. “It’s amazing how our families have been involved so closely and never been in direct conflict, I can hardly believe back 4 centuries ago our two families served the same regional lord.” Bonnie was ignoring other guests,that wasn’t like her usual bubbly self. Judy got concerned and went to find out what was up.

“Mom you ok, uh some of the other guests are asking about you?” Bonnie looked up and realized she had been ignoring her social responsibilities. 

“Oh dear, excuse me Kiti,I have to go be head of house you understand.”Kiti smiled and nodded.

Nick walked up and gave his mom his concerned look. “Don’t you bat your eyes at me like that young man, Bonnie and I have been discussing our family histories, it’s amazing to me and her how we have never crossed paths before, since we have been even serving the same people.”

“So that went well, I guess. Judy held his hand as they went back towards the room.

“I just want to get on with our honeymoon, you know life in Zootopia, in the city is just so much easier than here, how do you even sleep here,it’s so quiet?”

Judy giggled as she opened the door. “Well we don’t have to stay here, we could really go somewhere else, do you want to really leave here Nick?”

“Well your home is nice, but there’s never really any privacy here, it feels like we’re always being watched here.”

“You know my family owns a lot of property, maybe we could go to one of the camps and get away from here, would that be nice?”

They packed their bags and went to speak to the families. “Nick and I are going to go use the camp up in the hills, we just need some quiet Mom.” Bonnie nodded at her husband she had gotten the timing just about perfect.

“You two know you can stay here, but it looks like it’s not meant to be, you go ahead Judy sweetie, you know the way there.”

It took 45 minutes to walk with their bags to the retreat. “Ah so it’s a cabin out here huh?”

“Yes Nick it’s a cabin, no running water, no toilet just an outhouse it’s meant for camping, the fresh water is from the well, lighting is from kerosene lamps, it might be primitive.”

“Nope if it’s quiet...then that’s exactly what I want, now did we think to pack any food, no guess not huh, well any suggestions?”

“In the morning we walk down to the town, it’s right down the other side of the hill and get supplies sound good?”

The camp had two rooms, a bedroom and a kitchen and a living room space. They threw the bags by the door and Judy showed him where the outhouse was located.

“Well didn’t know we’d be roughing it out in the middle of nowhere, but it seems pretty nice, what did you want to do this evening?”

“Well we could walk into town and go see a movie? Or maybe head over to the Golden rod tavern and listen to the live bands play? They have live music nightly.”

“Whatever you feel like doing babe, let’s walk down,and go where the urge takes us.”

The walk into town only took ten minutes they came to the bottom of the hill and Judy heard the jazz tunes at the outdoor stage by the tavern.”That sounds nice, how about we get a couple of drinks and relax over there?”

They sat and a bar maid came to ask what they might want to drink, they ordered and listened for hours, till it was closing time. They’d both had had a few drinks by then and the return walk had been a stumble through the dark. After midnight they finally managed to get back to the camp.

Birds were chirping and the sun was well into the morning sky when they both finally woke,half clothed and snuggled up on the couch. “Oh dear god, it tastes like I tried to swallow a toad.” Judy put her hand to her head and watched as Nick finally opened his eyes which appeared to be blood shot.

“Can someone tell those loud birds to shut the hell up, my head feels like it’s fallen on the floor and is rolling around smashing into things.” Judy put her hand over his mouth.

“Oh god Nick your morning breath could kill me, remind me to stop drinking please it just doesn’t suit me I guess, and I always seem to get a bad hangover. Guh I need to pee.”

She climbed over him and ran for the outhouse. He stumbled out and started pounding on the door. “Don’t mean to.” Was as far as he got. Judy heard the retching sound, and put her hands over her own mouth in response.

When she opened the outhouse door, he was laying on the ground next to a rather disgusting puddle. “Oh god, she ran back inside and Nick inched himself up finally, his head was spinning, he heard her in there vomiting, and started to moan. He vowed to himself he’d never drink again, but he’d done that before, drinking did bad things to them both it looked like. 

“Hey, you done dying in there?” She shoved the outhouse door open finally, and had a look of utter disgust on her face.

“I’m dead, I just want to crawl into bed and make this all go away, how many drinks did we order last night? That music was so good, I lost track. Let’s go in, I feel awful.”

It was late in the afternoon before they finally woke the second time, and made there way outside. The vile headache she’d had was only a mild buzz now in her head. Nick moaned and asked if he was still alive.

“No you died, and this is hell.” His lopsided grin made her giggle. “Well you asked, uh lets check the medicine chest on the wall by the door and see if there’s anything for headaches.”

Nick walked slowly to it and opened it, he rummaged through and located pain pills. He popped two into his mouth and dry swallowed them, that’s when Judy came with the water glass, he laughed and handed her a couple of pain pills.

They collapsed back on the cabins couch, and sat there till near dark, neither one moving much.  
“We both need to eat something, think we can get back into town the diner will be open till 9.” He stood up and put out his hand.

“Ok sounds good, but tomorrow we really need to get supplies for real.”

The diner was nearly empty when they walked in. “What can I do for you Judy ,been awhile since you came in for a smoothie.”

Rita came over and handed them both menus “Nick this is Rita, she’s the sweetest person I know , her and her husband have a nice little house on the lake, by the dam. The beaver smiled at Judy. 

“Judy’s been coming here as long as I can remember, the usual?” Judy smiled and nodded. “What would you like sir?” 

“The names Nick, Judy and I just got married, and she’s showing me around, I’ll have the number 4 special.”

“Well two number 4’s coming right up, and congrats Judy, hadn’t heard about that yet. You know it won’t take long, news travels fast here.”

They waited and soon Rita brought their meals. “Anything else I can get you folks? Some dessert maybe?”

Nick browsed through and saw they had apple pie, he ordered that but Judy passed on dessert.

“Don’t you like apple pie?”

“Yep but I have been eating to many sweets lately, a girl needs to keep trim.”

Nick laughed and started to eat, he kept feeling eyes watching him all through dinner.

Motor cycles pulled up outside and Rita glared at the low life's that came in the door. “Well  
look at who we have here boys, Judy Hopps, who said you could sit in our booth!?” Judy looked up and her face got a disgusted look.

“Clayton Willowbe, last I heard you were in Podunk county jail doing time for Car jacking and auto theft, and this booth doesn’t belong to you.”

“Really.. Well you’re wrong why don’t you and your geeky fox friend. Clayton's hand came down on Nicks shoulder, Judy gritted her teeth, his touching Nicks person was going to. Nick grabbed the offending hand, twisted it and drove Clayton's face into the table top. Judy heard the crunch as Nick literally crushed Clayton's nose.

Barton fisk went for her with a piece of chain, Judy flipped the menu at his face and dove under the table. She scrambled out from under the table, and came up with a leg sweep,knocking the bobcat to the floor. The Coyote next to him wasn’t someone she knew, but his face was met by Nicks high kick. A loud voice announced the local sheriff had been called.

“Well Clayton looks like you and your boys ran into someone you can’t push around huh, this breaks your probation, I guess attacking an off duty police officer was a bad idea for you, Hi Judy, sorry about the unwelcome wagon here, but these three will be staying with us tonight.” Three deputies came in and grabbed the three gangers, and dragged them out. “Heard you fancy big city cops were in town, stop by the office and say hi when you feel like filling out a incident report for me on those scumbags alright, oh and say hi to your mom and dad for me, you folks have a nice evening, see ya Rita, thanks for calling.”

“You just have friends everywhere don’t you babe? Care to tell me why that idiot wanted to use our heads for footballs?”

“He took me to junior prom, back then he was the team captain of the football team, and I later found out he was a real jerk, he tried to get in my pants and when I told him no, he tried to date rape me, my brothers caught him before he could hurt me much. His dad used to be an important lawyer here in town, so the incident was covered up, and pushed under the rug. The old sheriff Buford Hanes was corrupt, and everyone knew he was taking payoffs from Clayton's dad. Augustus Willowbe was finally investigated and got disbarred from practicing law in this county, but they were always a rich family.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 International Task Force Mr and Mrs Wilde

Judy looked up as they pulled into the station. “Look Clawhauser came to meet us, he’s a pretty good friend I’d say.” Judy waved to Benjamin, as the train came to a halt, and the passengers started to file off. Nick grabbed their bags, and they headed for the door.

“I sure am glad to see you two back, it’s just not the same when you’re not around, the station seems so boring. Well other then business wise, it’s been a real nightmare since a week after you two left.”

“Really what’s been going on Ben?” Judy looked at her friend he looked harried, when she really took a good look. “You have dark circles under your eyes, what have we missed?”

The over weight officer walked them to their car, as he started to explain. “Well it started with a break in at Cat Tech, a case of espionage, their latest in full spectrum body scanning equipment blue prints they were developing for a government contract went missing. Turns out we found the culprit pretty quickly, it was the jaguar, the chief engineer in charge of the project. The freaky part is, well we caught everything on security cameras, but when they went to arrest him, the officers found the perp in a catatonic state, his brain pretty much melted.”

“Is he dead then?” Nicks question seemed to disturb Clawhauser a little.

“No but he might as well be, his mind is gone, he’s fading fast. The doctors took a series of blood samples to see what might be the cause, and they found very high traces of...of cat nip in his blood stream.”

“Cat nip, that’s a Class 1 Felony charge, Ben, what would a bright engineer be doing taking something like that? The damned stuff is highly addictive to felines, was he an addict who might have gotten a bad run?” 

Clawhauser looked embarrassed. “No and he was only the first, each of the break ins is being done by a feline. Every last suspect is being found in the same state, though the latest cat nip thief had a much higher dose in his system. The guy worked for a research company and he’s  
a Liger, the cat nip in his system showed traces of being cut with something else, they are still analyzing the substance, to find out what it is.”

Nick loaded their bags into the trunk and turned to Benjamin. “Thanks for coming to meet us Ben, and for bringing us to speed on the weird shit that seems to happen here, but my wife and I are off until Monday morning 8 AM, and we would like to just go home and relax, ok bud?”

The black government registered limo started tailing them as soon as they left the train station.  
“Wonder why the government is tailing us?” Judy glanced at the rear view and nodded.

“Maybe somebody wants to talk to us, we going to pull over or wait till we get home?”

“They whoever they are, can wait till we get home, and unpack. Before they roast us over the coals, damned feds always in our business.”

Nick pulled into his space, and the black limo pulled up in front of the building. Agent Sasha  
got out of the back and approached them, as Nick unpacked the bags from the trunk.

“Well that didn’t take long, what can we do for ITF?”

Nick carried the bags, as Judy went for the door to open it. “Nick and Judy Wilde your application has been accepted, I am your regional handler, and I am here to brief you on a very sensitive case.”

Judy and Nick both stopped and turned to the pink poodle. “We have gone over the cases you two have been involved with and the agency thinks you two are perfect candidates for the operation. I’ll be taking you from here to the regional training facility, your former employers have just been notified of your retirement from the police force, welcome to ITF!”

“Uh so Nick actually hasn’t really explained, I’m sure he meant to, but I’m in the dark. What does ITF really do?”

“We are International Task Force, our agency get’s the hard jobs, we deal with international espionage, counter terrorism, intelligence gathering, infiltration and asset elimination. You will be trained in languages, demolitions and ITF equipment use. I hope you two are ready to work your asses off, because I am a harsh task master!”

“Oh, give me your keys to this place, a team of movers is on the way, your lease here has been canceled. You are to break off all outside contact with any former friends or family, as of this minute. For your initial training period, you will be incommunicado for at least one month, while you go through basic!”

They were hustled into the back of the limo and taken to a facility located in the urban area of Meadowlands. The limo came to an electrified gate, and Nick noticed guard towers, and security patrolling the property. He looked over at Judy she looked worriedly out the window and he could see the look of concern on her face. Nick reached out and squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Well kind of to late to turn back now, right Carrots?”

“I’m not sure just yet, this might be a really exciting job,or I just might want to bury you up to your neck in flesh eating ants, I haven’t decided yet.”

Sasha got out as they exited the limo. “Once we enter this door, everything you have done before now is history.”   
He took Judy by the hand as they went through a security cordon, and entered the building. Nick glanced around, everyone here was armed with fully automatic weapons, and were all dressed in black uniforms, with ITF patches sewn on the right breast and on both sleeves.

Sasha led them to an elevator, and when they got in,put her right eye to a scanner over the elevator controls. The retina scanner whirred and a green beam played over Sasha’s eye.  
A mechanical voice greeted Sasha. “Welcome Director Potemkin, which level?”

“Level 6.” The elevator started down and the doors opened on underground level 6, they all got out and Sasha strolled down a long hallway with doors on both sides. “ Nicholas Piberius Wilde  
room number 4, you will remain in the assigned room during induction training at all times, unless eating in the dining room, or being drilled in one of the specialty areas!”

Nick was shoved in the room, and he heard the door lock. What the fuck had they gotten themselves into, this place was like a prison. He looked around the room it had a single bed, a bathroom, a desk with a light and a computer. At the bottom of his bed was a footlocker.

He opened it to find a set of uniforms just like the ones he had previously seen the security people, and other personnel wearing here. He pulled it out and slipped into it. He then sat at the desk and waited. He would have some things to say about the current treatment that was for sure.

“Judith Laverne Wilde, room number 12, same goes for you Mrs Wilde, Sasha shoved Judy inside and the door locked.

Sasha went to the observation room and the wait began, would they be able to figure out the test, or did they need to be totally retrained from the word go, Sasha sat in her chair as the techs around her ran the observation gear in the test rooms.

Judy had found the uniforms and gotten dressed, then she’d waited over three hours for someone to come and tell her what she needed to do the computer needed a password she’d not been provided as of yet,and she was beginning to get just a little angry her and Nick had been divided and sent to these locked rooms, after another hour she’d had enough. She began to explore her surroundings and looking for a way out of there.

“So they think they can just lock us up and forget about us till they have time huh, well not this fox hear that, I’m getting out of here right now.” Nick went into the bathroom an idea had come to him as he sat in front of the useless computer in the room. He lifted the back off the toilet and reached in, he found what he was looking for and ripped the piece out, now he could try to jimmy the door.

“Director activity in room 4, looks like Mr Wilde has had enough of his confinement already, and it appears so has his wife. Both are attempting to break out of confinement, it didn’t take them long to figure out something wasn’t right.”

“Well Jacobs, they did pass the prelims when we ran their data through computer sims, now we get to see how they really perform under pressure. Make sure we get all of this recorded for training purposes.”

Sasha moved to the door at the end of the test hallway and waited. Nick went down the hallway and came to room 12, he kept lightly tapping on each door till he heard a response,just as he was readying to knock door number 12 popped open,Judy grinned at him and reached for his hand.

They crept quietly down the hall Nick saw the camera above the door and flipped it off. “They must think were a real couple of assholes, if they think were going to just sit on our hands, till someone has time for us.”

Judy went low, as he tried the door,readying to knock down anyone standing outside, Nick balled up his left fist, and tried the knob. It opened on the first turn, no one was directly behind it but he and Judy both heard a set of hands clapping.

“Very creative, both of you get high marks for resourcefulness, now if your done with the test please follow me.” Sasha led them both down the hall past the observation room full of techs and into a second elevator. “Housing level.” The elevator started up and went down a good ways before the doors opened again. “Well I must say, both of you did that faster than I have seen in a very long time, now here’s where you’ll be living for the next month.”

Sasha opened the door and handed them both keys to it. “The suites here do not have a kitchen, we have a communal dining room on this floor, that is staffed around the clock.  
The main area here as you can see, is set up for education and entertainment your training area, she pointed. Is on the outside wall, here in the center is your entertainment area, through the door there is your bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. It comes fully equipped with a full suite of relaxation appliances, you will be using them, especially the whirlpool bathes I imagine. I did ,when I went through training.”

“Now take the day and set up your computers, I ask you to please limit any outside contact, we do allow limited outside contact, but this facility is in a dark site, and the fewer people know of it’s existence the better right!” 

Nick and Judy both reacted the same way, they nodded and went to sit down at a computer. 

“Hey babe what do you think so far?” He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to comment.

“Well first, shitty way to test us, but I guess I can see testing our wits.”

“What did you use to jack the door, used the flat bar in the toilet for my way out.”

Pried the computer open and used the gate slot for the chip on mine.” Nick smiled and leaned in to give her a kiss.

“My wife is a smart woman, wonder when dinner time starts around here? Sasha did say we could eat any time, but I wouldn’t want to be a pain in the ass.”

“Why don’t we take a look in the bedroom first, I’m curious.” They stepped in and Judy let out a sigh when she sat on the bed. “Wow Nick, the two sides are independant comfort sleep we can choose our own comfort levels look here, this is the setting dial!” Judy got excited and laid down to test it.

“Nick try it, it feels so nice.” He laid down and it did feel very nice, he adjusted it just a tiny bit and softened the feel a bit,there now it was perfect.

Judy got up and went to the closet expecting more uniforms, she was surprised to find lovely clothes inside, suits and dresses, a variety of track suits and jogging clothes, she started picking through and slipped out of the uniform and into a nice blue low cut dress. Nick spotted what she was doing, and came over to get a closer look.

“I like that color on you babe, blue is really your color isn’t it?” She grinned and twirled to give him a good look.

Nick went to the dresser and opened it, his face went red,top drawer was definitely hers.  
Judy started giggling. “What did you find?”

“Uh underwear, if you can call it that, he reached in and pulled out the thong style underwear and showed it to her. See told you so.”

“Well that is just a wish and a prayer isn’t it,throw them here,let me try them.” He tossed them to her. “Oh now that pair is comfy, what are you looking at?”

Nicks jaw was hanging open. “Did you go bald down there again?” Her giggle told him the answer.

She finally rolled her eyes and sighed, quit taking all the fun out of this Nick, yes I shaved down there again but I was thinking, uh don’t you like it better, this way?”

Did he, he sat and thought about it, a small smile finally coming to his lips, she’d done it for him. “Well you don’t have to, but yeah it feels nice when I run my tongue over you down there all slick and uh, yes I like when you go bald down there.”

“It doesn’t take to much work, uh, do you think you could, you know try it to? I wouldn’t mind you know feeling you bald down there to.” He’d never tried it before, it sounded absolutely perverted.

“Well maybe after dinner we could uh, see about that.”

Her smile made him start laughing, they were still finding out so much about each other when it came to sex, they were falling into a routine, but she kept wanting to try new things. Maybe he would think about new things for them to try together, it certainly kept their sex life interesting.

They went to the communal dining room and enjoyed a nice dinner, the result upon observation  
of their after dinner plan was as good. “Uh a sharp razor kinda makes me nervous how about we find another option?” Judy had an idea, she went and sat down at her computer.

Half an hour later, she called Nick over. “How about we get these?” She turned her screen towards him and the site read the industries best intimate shaving and intimate grooming tools,no razor burn,no binding,no cutting or nicking they could get a matching set of intimate shavers for just 200 Z bucks the site was listed as groom it smooth.

“Ah, sure.” Judy smiled and hit check out, she wondered what she needed to enter the delivery address as. She went to the room phone and pushed the information button. The tech who picked up was embarrassed when they heard what had been ordered, but told her to have the item sent to PO box 1564 Meadowlands post office. Judy went back to enter the info and noticed the over night delivery option only added 20 Z bucks to the cost,she felt naughty and clicked it.

They curled up on the couch and watched a romantic movie that evening. She fell asleep on his shoulder, he smiled when the movie ended and gently shook her shoulder. “Come on sleepyhead, lets go to bed, I think tomorrow is going to be a hard day.”

The alarm went off at 5AM Nick nearly jumped out of his skin when the thing started blaring right next to his ear Judy crawled out of bed and into the bathroom first, he peeled an eyelid back and stared at the stupid clock that couldn’t be reset in any way he could find.

Judy came back yawning, she leaned in and kissed him good morning as he got up to use the bathroom. “We’ve been on vacation to long guess they keep people on an early schedule here.”

Nick grumbled about wanting to kill the clock, but it was muffled by his taking a morning shower. Judy grinned and slipped out of her night dress, the steam of the shower was briefly interrupted as she snuck in and into the huge shower with him. ”Wondered if you were coming in?” His grin made her giggle as she took the soap from him, and lathered up his back for him.

They had found they liked showering together, even if it didn’t always end up being an intimate encounter, sometimes it did. Like this morning he pushed her hard against the shower wall, the steamy water coming down over them he lifted her up, she grabbed the shower head and slowly came down on him. His hands held her ass as he entered her, he bounced her on him,the slick hard pounding made her moan softly. God having sex had become much more intimate since this whirlwind marriage. Did all married people have it this good? They both enjoyed so many different things during sex, finally he had brought her down hard,his cock head went hard against her G-spot, and sent a jolt of orgasm through her body. Judy had never been a screamer, it had never affected her that way, but her shriek had made him excited enough to cum hard inside her, the outflow dribbled out, ran down her left leg and dropped off to swirl down the drain.

Their breathing was hard and heavy, he finally pulled out of her and his kiss came in, her tongue tickled his lips and the intimate kiss held them there, breathing hard in each others arms,till the water started to get cold. Judy washed herself off and they both laughed at the fun they had just had together. “We should go see what there is for breakfast, if you keep wanting so much sex woman I will definitely need to fuel the old rod.” Judy smiled and threw a towel at him.

“Face it husband mine, you are just as horny as I am, and...and your god how can I say this, you make me feel so good when we do it. Do you think other married couples have great sex or are we weird?” 

“I don’t give a damn what other people do, but you make me feel great to babe,I wanted to ask,the last time we had sex, before we came back, what was that you started doing? It feels really nice. 

“My mom told me about,well she told me how to do these kegel exercises, it builds up certain muscles that really help a woman have a very nice experience with her husband. Do you like it? I’m still practicing, does it really feel good, when I flex that way?”

“God woman, yes it really grips me hard, I’ve never felt a woman tighten up like that, drool started running from the corner of his mouth he noticed and quickly wiped it away. Judy noticed and a bit of blush crept up her face. 

“God Nick don’t be a pervert, so it feels really good then?” He started laughing as they went through the breakfast line. “Let’s talk about that tonight shall we? Look pancakes, he grabbed a plate stacked high and coated them with buttery syrup.

“I want waffles, yummy I hope today isn’t to hard, I am curious though.

“Same here love, maybe we will get an orientation of some kind. They ate quickly and returned to their room around 7 Sasha finally showed up and gave them the training manuals they would be using.

“Nick I want you to start with security systems, your aptitudes make you the security specialist for your team, Judy I want you to come with me, I noticed you had an interest in hair styling, we can work with that, disguise work is an important part of this work we sometimes need to look different to get the job done.”

Nick went to his desk and sat down to a seminar on security systems technology, and how to rascal such things. Two hours later he was enthralled by code breaking, and could go through three different security systems sims and defeat each one of them within the five minute window, he continued with his lessons till noon time when Judy came back. Nicks eyes nearly bugged out of his head, when she stepped through the door.

“Judy, babe is that you?” Her fur had been bleached all over, she was pure white.

“We were learning about body dyeing, I learned bleaching today, I was kind of worried you might not like it, is it ok?” 

“Sure, but your not going to try to start popping out of giant top hats are you?”

White rabbit was slang for strippers, who worked a very specific market of erotic show.

Apparently Judy had heard the term before she looked down and slammed her right hand to her forehead.”That’s what the guard on level 3 was laughing about, oh god Nick I should get a dye shouldn’t I. I don’t know maybe brown,or gray, god think I could do some odd color like pink?”

“I think you look pretty, if you like it bleached, then who else matters, uh I do have to say this though, does it go,you know all the way down?”

“Well it wouldn’t be an all over bleach job if it didn’t, oh I see, she smiled and smacked him. Nick you are so bad!”

Even teasing each other was better, “Hey I scored really high on security system cracking, beat them all in under 5 minutes today, what do you think so far? This seems different then the academy, but I kinda feel good about this.”

“I never thought I’d be learning something like this, doing disguise work is really complex ,but I really like it. Tomorrow I’m supposed to learn about application work, where you add in poly pieces to change face shape or add on a few pounds, it sounds really interesting.”

Sasha walked into the tech station, and went right to Oscars desk. “So I want today’s report, start from when they woke up.”

“You want visuals? or just a written report?”

She opened her office door. “Send me visuals to my comp, I need to analyze them both, plain words don’t really help me understand them.”

Sasha sat and kicked her computer on, the file came in and she opened it. Standard stuff typical of newlyweds, the sex in the shower seemed fun, but it showed they had already developed the right kind of report with each other. She noticed how erotic they were with each other, and the best part was, even for so young a couple, they were relaxed with each other and could anticipate what the other partner needed.

They were both scoring high as agents, this job was suited to couples the agency had discovered couples could know almost instinctively what their partner would do in a situation, just about perfectly every time,she sighed partnerships, she pulled out her phone and called Barry. “Hey babe, I’m going to be a little late, how about I bring dinner sound good? I love you to pookie bear.” She hung up and stared at the techs written report, his dry words meant nothing, what did he know anyway, he couldn’t even get a girl to give him a date. 

“So how about an action movie tonight?” They had just returned from dinner, and were making plans for the evening, he was looking through the online guide. 

“I heard today that Hexmaster two finally hit Netbox!”

“Babe the first one scared you so bad you said you had nightmares for a week, you sure you want to watch a second one like that, I mean I saw the trailer, they claim it will be twice as scary as the first one.”

Ten minutes into the movie, Judy was clutching his arm and hiding her face, every time the Hexmaster came out to steal someones soul. “I told you, you want me to change it?”

Judy spooked then, the damned thing had jumped out the shadows and dragged the lead guy into there, he had started chewing on the hero.

Nick changed the channel to something called the gainesboro girls, it was written up in the guide as a feel good flick, they hadn’t said it was MA, the girls were waitresses working hard for a real asshole boss. He treats them badly, the girls get the idea to start working as hookers on the side and it revolved around the diner they worked during the day.

The thing was the 2 hour pilot for an adult tv series that was getting ready to come out. For porn with a plot, it was actually pretty good. The two room mates by the end of the movie had found out they had to do some disgusting sexual things, but by mid way through, they had become the owners of the diner, after the owner their old boss kicked the bucket.

“Hey getting kind of late, feel like just heading to bed, bet were up at 5AM again tomorrow.”

She took him by the hand and followed him to bed, she pulled her nightdress out and found she really didn’t feel like wearing it, he had climbed into bed in the raw they hadn’t discussed sex tonight but they didn’t have to have sex to just be naked,she tossed the night dress back in the drawer and climbed in beside him, she slipped under the comforter, and snuggled up to him.

“So I actually liked that second movie, think the series will be any good?”

“I guess, I liked the characters, the two girls sure do have some crazy times, might be fun to watch, you wanna follow it?” 

Judy giggled, “I think it might be fun, that damned Hexmaster was scary as hell, I should have listened to you Nick, I just hope I don’t have any nightmares, it would be my own fault I guess.”

“You have a nightmare, you wake me up babe, I know how much it scared you the last time.”

“Hey Nick you weren’t planning on having sex tonight were you? She touched his shoulder.

“Nope wasn’t planning on it, did you want to?” He turned over to face her in bed.

“Well I was wondering because you came to bed, uh naked. Unless that’s not a good sign you want to have sex.”

“You know I don’t really care, I kind of think The naturalists got it right. Clothes are a damned bother, you ok with us well, not wearing clothes?”

“I don’t really care, though it might get a little embarrassing when we answer the door.”

“You know I think I’ll call Yax and find out how Naturalists deal with public things, I know they are nudists at home, you know in the morning.” She laid her head on his shoulder and they were both soon fast asleep.

The tech observing made a notation, and sent a message to Sasha to inform her the morning guy would likely be jerking off a lot, agents discussing nudism in home, should prove an interesting case study. 

Judy woke in a cold sweat and shook Nick awake. “He tried to get me!” He soothed her and after an hour, finally she went back to sleep.


	4. The world needs heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Judy discover ITF is much more then they thought it was.

Chapter 4 The world needs heroes

“So Yax said he keeps a bath robe in the front hall closet, for when he has to meet people at the door, we don’t have a closet but we do have a door knob, I guess we could hang a robe on that.”

“Huh that actually sounds sensible, you know I think this Naturalist thing is refreshing really when you think about it it kind of makes sense being naked isn’t bad it’s the perception of nakedness being bad that makes people hate their bodies, Look at Nangi she lets herself move in the outside world with clothes but once she gets to work she loves her job, because it allows her to be herself.”

“That’s kind of profound, hey Carrots when did you get all pro nudism on me thought you were afraid of all that openness, I mean they were naked.” 

“You know I just thought about something they don’t force their belief on anyone but everyone I saw there when we went to investigate that case were happy, everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves,and I think our trying this is good for us.”

“Ok so let’s hang our robes on the door then.” He hung his on a hanger and hooked it on the door handle, she slipped her robe over a hanger and did the same. Then headed for the bathroom.

“So we use clothes outside when the norms of society demand and we get to be ourselves when were behind closed doors. A knock came on the door and Nick got up from his desk to get it. “Oops nearly forgot to robe it.” he put his robe on and opened the door.

Sasha was standing outside, stark naked in the hallway. “I see you have decided to follow a cultural belief, did you know that there are tribes in Animallia that only tattoo their bodies, and never wear clothes? I want both of you to read over the tribal customs of the the tribes in Northern Animallia, and this complex is a care free zone, if you feel naturalist belief will help you two get more in sync, then you walk here without judgement understand?” 

Judy came out of the bathroom and nearly tripped over her own feet. “Uh what?”

“It seems we must have been overheard I guess discussing our life style choice and ah the boss says were allowed to,well you can see what were allowed to do, I just can’t believe it.”

“You can’t believe it, well I have to ask, why our you supporting our life style choice Nick and I decided we would do this in the privacy of our room, have you been.”

Sasha put up her hand and stopped Judy. “Your conversation was overheard and reported to me, Alex is a bat, with superior hearing. So to put you at ease about that, I decided to come and explain. I have been a naturalist since I was 22, if you think I’m only doing something to impress you, you’re way off base. If you like I can show you my club membership, or you can talk to Yax, I visit his club regularly when I am in town. I just wanted to make you’re aware that there are people who consider your lifestyle choice a good one. So stop gawking and lets get to work.” Sasha was liking these two more and more,they had made up their minds to try something new even if it was naturalism,nudism by any other name it was refreshing. It was nice to see a couple secure enough in their personal relationship, to be as open as that.

“Nick do you think you can handle being the first aid tech, I would like Judy to learn languages and work at translation stuff, we need to get one of you fluent in Japanese soon, and you show a higher aptitude for medical then Judy does.”

“Sure I’ve already taken the first responder medical stuff last year, Judy gets a little queasy at the sight of blood, oh let me clarify, shes fine with other peoples blood, it’s her own blood she has problems with seeing.” 

“Nick shut it!” Nick laughed but he subsided.

“So it’s good to know the agents I am training seem to have a very good report with each other, you know that kind of thing is something the agency strives for in an agent couple. So Judy I’m going to take you down to the sleep teacher chamber, and see if you can gain a good understanding of Japanese.”

Sasha turned to Nick as she strode to the door. “I’ll be back in about ten minutes, to take you to see our specialist trainer, be ready to go when I get back.”

Judy kept looking down at herself, still a bit uncomfortable with nudity but she kept noticing Sasha acting normally. “Hey can I ask you something?”

“Sure what’s on your mind?”

“Well when I first came to Zootopia, I was really really not into naturalism, ah walking around nude, it doesn’t bother you?” 

“I have always been in tune with my body Judy, society has come to think we should cover up what the circle of life has given us, do you follow the circles teachings?”

“Ah, I don’t usually talk religion or politics. I seem to get myself into hot water when I talk about that sort of thing, but my grand father is a priest of the Circle, he hasn’t chosen his successor yet but he will chose a male rabbit from our family soon, why do you ask?”

“Because we are one of the few agencies in the world to have an unadulterated, and uncensored version of the ancient scrolls, there was a purge back around 300 years ago the reformist of that era sought to destroy the circle of life beliefs, and succeeded in ripping out a lot of the truth, Naturalist belief is the true path, every follower of the Circle of life once followed. It went back to our most primal ancestors, those tribes of primitives, marking themselves with their life stories.”

Judy flashed back to the wedding ceremony the foxes followed marking the bride and grooms bodies with the life tales. It had to be a remnant of the true circle belief, that had survived the purge. “Did you know that they used to mark the stories into their flesh with tiny branding tools, there are mummified bodies we have unearthed from ages ago, but the governments of the modern world have sought to keep that from the general public. Tale branding was one of the things those prudes wanted done away with, they began a crusade against the followers of the circle of life and anyone found practicing the old ways were, dragged away to the crucifixion trees.”

“This religious purge finally ended about 120 years ago, The last reformist crusaders we’re caught by a devoted group of Circle assassins led by a Fox, he led a secret band of true circle believers, but the damage had been done the planned assassination failed, someone had leaked the attack plans to the local lords reformist crusaders, and it turned into a bloodbath.

“Both sides the militant arm of the reformists died at the hands of the assassins, but in turn those assassins all except for one were also killed off. After that the circle went deep underground and the belief started to fade away, the reformists gradually became the modern version of what we see as religion now, the religion everyone now follows, is a sham."

“Oh hey, while were on this floor the delivery you ordered was picked up, hey Kenny, agent Wilde would like her package.” A rather fat wildebeest looked up from his paperwork and adjusted his glasses.

“Oh hey boss, yep one sec, where did I put it? Ah here we go. He came to the service window and handed Judy the intimate trimmers she’d ordered.

“So enough about the real history of the world, how about we get you in the sleep teacher, here we are.” The sign on the door read somnolence induction hypno training, silence required beyond this point.

Sasha pushed open the door and quietly tapped a fat walrus on the shoulder. He looked up startled but he got what was going on he nodded and had them follow him down a short hallway with doors on each side. He reached for the door handle on room number 9 and opened it, when they got all inside the door closed and he finally spoke. “Were good in here, this one is totally sound proofed, you said you need Agent Wilde here I take it, to be accelerated and this is the only machine I trust to do that.”

“Please lay down in the sleeper lounger, I’ll get you set up for your session, I’m Doctor Boris Watts I’ve worked with ITF as a consultant for oh let me think almost 14 years now, and this sleep teaching machine has been a project of mine ever since, it teaches a person through a biorhythmic nerve induction method through this hood, each of the micro receptors helps transmit millions of bits of the lesson directly into long term memory in the brain.” 

“It won’t hurt at all, but by the end of the week you will be able to speak fluent Japanese like a native speaker, though you may get some funny looks, the person we got to do the recordings was from western animallia, and has a funny draw in his voice.”

“You’re in good hands here Judy, I guess I’ll leave you to it, if you would like to talk to me more about the circle of life believers or Naturalism, my room is on level 2, in the administration section, just give me a call and I will get you cleared through ok?”

Judy nodded but the sound of the sea gently shushing against the shore line through the devices headphones had her already nodding off.

4 hours later she came out of the teaching trance and smiled.”Wow this is amazing, so I can already form simple sentences, and I grasp word meanings, this is so exciting!”

“I can teach you this way for a lot of different languages, we’ve found retention is the main issue, it’s sometimes like we have leaky brains, most agents can only retain a couple languages other then what they were taught from birth, though I am still trying to refine the process.”

“Wow I am really hungry, is that a side effect of the device?” He came forward and helped her take the headset off.

“Oh yes, the information processing makes your body think you have been running a marathon, it’s an association issue I’m still trying to refine, you should actually exercise a little after you break for lunch, your body needs physical stimulation we don’t want induction muscle atrophy   
to give you muscle cramping.”

“Uh I have a question, can the physical activity be, uh...you see I sort.”

“Oh you must be an alpha type 2, I’m sorry let me explain why you’re suddenly so charged up for sex, in certain subjects the machine effects the erogenous zone in the brain, effectively, well more or less stimulating a huge wash of erotic dreaming, basically what happens when you have wet dreams or get physically turned on by sexual contact. I have been researching that side effect since I discovered it in Director Sasha, you’re only the fifth agent to have an alpha type 2 reaction.”

“So my wanting to uh get relief, is a side effect? Does it happen every time a person uses the machine?

“Yep you’re an alpha 2, sorry but being super horny seems to be the norm for you alpha 2 types,  
nothing I can do will change that, but I am working on it. In fact being you are an alpha 2, I have a proposal but uh, you and your partner would need to be involved. If you want to help we can talk about that when you come back tomorrow ok? You really need to go eat, and ah take care of your sexual needs, that much hormonal influx needs to be purged or it will come out as some really erotic mental patterns during sleep.”

“Ah erotic mental patterns? Can you be a little more specific, just what have I gotten myself into? 

“Well it’s not terrible, just well I haven’t been able to study the problem much. I know what happens, but none of the alpha 2’s I’ve run into here have been willing to help me figure it out. I really would like to study this issue, do you think your husband would be interested in helping figure it out?”

“What would that entail? Judy seemed interested the doctor was having trouble with the equipment which was really helping her, it was just having side effects that were well exciting but unexpected.

“You are an alpha 2 type if your husband is a type other then alpha 2 he could be the control factor, it would take using a link we could analyze this problem and then I would have something I would like to talk further about with you and your husband.”

Judy agreed and headed back to the room, she ran into three people who totally ignored her as she went past, it was extremely odd to be ignored when you were stark naked, but it happened.

Sasha walked into the tech area and glanced into the observation room. “I want a status update on Nick and Judy send the data to my comp.” She walked in and kicked her bare feet up on the desk, who knew Judy and Nick would be so in tune already, nudity it could be used like any other weapon this business had proven to be ultra dangerous, some of the scum they dealt with were disgustingly horrible people.

Her last case had been busting an international porn ring that enslaved the women working for them with mind numbing substance addiction, it stank of the same shadowy organization that was turning the feline population in Zootopia into brain dead zombies, and having those zombies steal state secrets in some cases.

She glanced at the report and her eye stopped on Judy’s report.* Well isn’t that interesting to know she’s an alpha 2 type, ok so that explains the afternoon delight they had, but Nick just heads back to doing the assignment, my god,they are pretty well adjusted as a couple, he’s a loving husband but he also lets her have her space, and Judy does the same, that is very interesting, I bet by now they are starting to question just how important they are in the agency.*

“Hey Oscar, I want you to call headquarters and have them send Colburn out here, I think he’s going to be real interested with these two.”

Colburn read the file and a grin came to his face, maybe these two would be the ones he had been looking for, for the life seed project.

“So Nick I meant to talk to you about what happened, other then well, needing to have sex as a side effect of the stimulation my brains getting from the hypnotraining I’m getting. The doctor wants to try to understand and maybe well fix the side effect issue, would you be interested in...uh helping out?”

He finished the scheduled lesson and went to the certification testing written test, when he was done he sat back and thought about the question. “Ok it sounds weird this whole brain bending crap and who am I trying to kid it makes you horny, that’s not strange to you babe?”

“It is but I understand Japanese pretty well already, it’s so odd I’ve never spoken a foreign language Nick, and you have to admit, that side effect is kind of fun. Who wouldn’t want a horny housewife showing up every afternoon and asking her husband to have sex with her. Even if it is to relieve a chemical reaction in my brain, it still feels nice doesn’t it?”

“I feel like some kind of test subject here sometimes, then I find some new information and I get so excited by the training were getting here, and another thing this relaxed acceptance of nudity it doesn’t feel creepy to you? I was kind of shocked when Sasha walked in here this morning and she was stark butt ass naked, but she just ticked it off like normal everyday life.”

“I think we’re going to find out our world isn’t like we think it is, so will you come tomorrow with me when I go see the doc for my language training?”

“Sure, I just feel a bit strange, what you told me Sasha said about the circle of life beliefs, that’s got me wondering something, my family has been keeping our traditions for centuries, now what you told me starts to make more sense.”

“Oh I also got this.” Judy tossed him the package.

“Is this what I think it is?” He tore into the box and started taking out items from it.

She grabbed the contents sheet and checked off the things. “Yep looks like everything we ordered, wanna go see how yours work? I’d like to find out how these feel all slick and naked. She had put her hand to him, and he could already feel a hard on starting. 

“You are just still horny aren’t you!?” Judy stuck her tongue out and started giggling at him, he couldn’t help but follow. ”Ok you win lets go see it kinda feels a little odd,but eh what the hell.”

They headed into the bathroom and she helped him get trimmed up, the settings on the shaver, took the fur down there right down to the skin. Her gentle touch gave him a shiver as she caressed the bare flesh down there. 

“Uh that feels nice, thought it might be you know freaky, it just feels a little chilly.”

Judy leaned in and nuzzled his neck. “You know I feel pretty good lately, our sex life is fun, we’re learning some really cool stuff, but I want to know more about what ITF really does don’t you?” 

The tech on duty immediately red flagged Judy’s statement and sent it to the bosses phone. She and Barry had just had some exciting sex, her phone the private line to the office buzzed in her purse, indicating a red flag text, had been sent to her. She eased out of bed and watched Barry continue to snore. 

*Dammit...well that came on suddenly.* She texted the tech on duty back, she would be back to the center in an hour, it would be priority to put them on internal lock down till she got there and prepared them for the truth. How was she going to explain to them half of the shit, how was she going to tell them ITF dealt with more then just international crime,terrorism and intrigue, fuck would they even believe in the super natural or the fucking monsters that were a lot more than fairytales.

Would they believe there was a creature being milked for its mind controlling venom, that was being combined with high grade cat nip and used to turn those felines into willing mind slaves. The damned thing was in Japan but so far they hadn’t been able to locate it, Central headquarters were up her ass after losing 3 agents already, two of which was a fully skilled husband and wife team.

Then this shrieker thing was running loose in the mines up in Grizzly falls, sucking miners souls and leaving shriveled husks of people in its wake. That didn’t even touch on whatever that scaled thing was, turning the swamp folk in Marshlands into stone. She’d had a hell of a time covering that one up, the Zootopia press were some real nosy assholes when they wanted to be.

She drove back and went to knock on Judy and Nicks door. Judy opened it a look of stern displeasure on her face. “Nick and I would like to know why we weren’t able to get out for an evening jaunt and you just show up and the door magically opens?!”

“Get dressed I don’t care about nudity, but were going to meet someone who does, and forget what you think you know, your about to have your eyes opened to the real truth out there in the world.”

“So finally getting to the real reason we got accepted huh, this place just seems a little to unreal, and you made Judy and I suspicious. I’m thinking aliens, Judy thinks you guys are a government think tank that keeps people enslaved till they die working for some shadowy organization deep in the governments black ops back pocket.”

“Closer then you think, but we haven’t run into any aliens yet, not saying they might not exist, just that we haven’t run into any yet.”

“Your shitting me right, what the fuck have we been drawn into?” 

“I have been authorized to show you, follow me.”

Judy held his hand as they went to the elevator. “Level 25 project Dark shadow.”

A scanner came out of the elevator wall and scanned Sasha, it then scanned him and Judy.

“Nick I have a bad feeling about this, I don’t think I really want to know what’s on level 25.”

The door opened and they filed off, there was a thick layer of fog low by the floor down here, and it felt humid as hell.

They followed Sasha down a long hallway and to a solid steel door, on the door was some strange writing and a warning in bright red letters. Clearance level 5 only, no admittance any unauthorized entry is a class 5 felony punishable by a 25 year jail term.

Sasha pulled out a key card and slipped it through the security lock, the door popped open and slid back to admit them.

“Wrathcindarix these are two of the new agents we have been training to replace Paula and Derik, you want to please come out and give them the introductions?”

“So finally bringing the noobs down to show them the truth hmmm, why should I tell them anything? You know they will likely die pretty quickly, why should I let myself feel that sort of pain again? You creatures, are so fleeting.” Judy shivered and held tighter to Nicks hand.

The voice sounded creepy, and Judy couldn’t see where it was coming from the fog concealed everything. “Dammit...you’re going to force me to reveal myself aren’t you little Sasha!? Are you sure they can take the truth! Are you certain they won’t run screaming out of here, and lose their minds when they see me?”

“Just open your big fat mouth and tell them already! Colburn is on the way in, we have been trying to determine exactly what abilities they both have, but it hasn’t been easy.”

A reptilian head the size of Mr Bigs limo rose out of the murk, two blazing blue eyes regarded them from thirty feet above them. “So you’re a big scary lizard, yeah for you!” Sasha turned to Nick her mouth hanging open he had no idea the shit he had just let come out of his mouth.

“LIZARD….Boy I am a Draconis ignis you insignificant bug! The stream of blue fire crawled up the wall, and set it alight. Sasha started backing towards the door, she tried to drag Judy with her, but Judy shoved her hand away and walked up to stand next to her husband. 

“You know what flame throwers are against the law, and what you just did is called arson, it’s a crime to set property on fire you know?” 

Sasha made it to the doorway and stopped. These two were lunatics, they were cracking wise to an adult dragon nearly 3000 years old, like he was a loud obnoxious neighbor. 

“You really should do something about that breath of yours, it smells like burning metal.”

Sasha stood right next to the door and her mouth fell open. He started laughing, the sound reverberated off the cavern walls and she heard him finally stand up. “What’s your name boy!?”

“Nick Wilde, at your service, oh aren’t you a tall one. Judy stared up the head of this thing was now about 70 feet off the ground above her and Nick.

Sasha heard him incanting now, some damned dragon magic spell and the fog dissipated.

“You have a real set of balls don’t you fox, well what do you think of me now?”

Judy held Nicks hand real tight this thing was the size of a small jet, it had sharp white teeth and two huge twisted horns coming out of it’s head, it’s claws, she swallowed it’s claws were the size of railroad ties, but it’s scales glittered like bright silver jewels.

“I run ITF I’m in charge of the entire northern territorial sector, and Director Sasha works for me, this entire facility, everything you have seen is mine, but ITF is much more then you thought it was. ITF is the first and only defense against, monstrous intrusions from the alter planes, the mists that are usually invisible to normal people. We are here to stop those things, we stand between the light and the darkness to protect the innocent.”

“Now one of my top agents in ITF is in bound, and I don’t have anymore time to waste on people who stand there gawping at me.” He cast another spell and altered his form. “So fox you ever heard of Riojin the wander, that was one of my names in a former lifetime.” the mist cleared and a silver male fox stepped out of it.

“Yeah I had an ancestor named Riojin, he was the most feared assassin in my family heritage, and he was said to have a rare silver coat just like you.” Nicks voice trailed off he stared at the silver fox that had been the dragon. 

“So you don’t think dragons fool around to? What, I know all about you Nick, ok I have to admit your ancestress was a beautiful woman, I hadn’t known I could cross breed at that time. Anyhow when Akane told me she was pregnant, we disappeared one night, we moved here. I brought her back to my cavern home, we lived here together in happiness, and I still have a deep ache in my heart where she used to be.”

“So you married into the family basically, I always wondered about that.” 

“Listen Nick we need to go upstairs, maybe we got off on the wrong foot, Sasha knows I get grumpy when I am in shed, how about we go meet Colburn and I’ll have him cast a seeking spell on you and Judy there? I can see by your rapid breathing I’ve been a bit of an overbearing old bastard again, please forgive me, my manners are probably about two hundred years out of date.”

The silver fox reached out and took Judy’s hand, his lips came down and he softly kissed it. “I think a gentlemen could be forgiven thus, he held on to her hand as he and Nick walked she trailed along, the silver foxes hand felt so warm.

“Judy you all right babe?” Nicks face looked concerned.

The trip up in the elevator was a little crowded. The silver fox Riojin finally let her hand go, but she could feel he wasn’t a threat, all of that blustering had been pure nonsense. She had a deep belief he was painfully lonely.

“So Sasha how are you and the bear getting along then?” Sasha was still trying to absorb and process what she had just been a witness to.

“Barry and I, we’re… we’re in love, but I don’t have to tell you that you’re just trying to embarrass me again aren’t you?”

“Actually I was trying to be civil, you know you’re like a daughter to me, uh so everything going ok since your sister passed?” 

The elevator doors opened and a silver fox in a black trench coat stood there. “So dad scaring the new recruits again?


	5. The power within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is change, but can Nick and Judy face those changes together?

“Actually I need you to cast a seeking on both of them, they are training up to replace Paula and Derik, we lost them to a Wendigo incursion in Northern Animallia. I need to know what their abilities are Colburn my boy, think you could do that for the old man?”

Colburn regarded Nick and Judy with a calculating eye. “Dad they are an interspecies couple, are you sure that you want me to cast that on them? You do remember what happens? She’s a rabbit dad, he’s a fox, that spell peels a person back to their most primal emotions and instincts. You sure, they can take that sort of soul bearing?!”

“It doesn’t matter what I think, we have some serious problems and they are getting out of control, why don’t you ask them if they think they can do it, after all they married each other, I think that sort of relationship will prove out.”

Colburn sighed. “All right, do both of you think that you know your spouse well enough to go through a serious test, the spell effects you right down to your most inner primal self, I’d never consider casting something like that unless both of the subjects, could tell me yes.”

Judy held Nicks hand tightly. “What does whatever you’re thinking of trying on us do exactly, I saw what a certain chemical from a plant did to predators, it turned them into monsters. If that is what basically will happen I’m out no way I would allow myself to become like that, never, I love her, and that’s a No if it will do that, if not you better tell me exactly what happens.

“I want to know to.” Judy stepped closer to Nick and put her arm around him. 

“All right then, I will cast a spell, you don’t have to believe in it for it to effect you, lets just say it will put you into a trance, in the trance you will spiral back to your elemental being, when that happens I’ll know exactly what your abilities are, I have to say though sometimes a subject looses control, and there is a chance you could go feral, though I will be there to monitor everything, there is no certainty what exactly will happen it’s a risk.”

Nick looked like he was getting ready to tell them to go to hell. “I’ll trust him, we’re to far in now to turn back, when can we start?” Nick turned to her, he swallowed, and squeezed her hand.

“Are you sure babe? What happens if I turn into something like those night howler victims? I’d never forgive myself if I hurt you!” She leaned in and kissed him then.

“You would never do that Nick, I know you would never hurt me.”

“All right...what do we have to do to get whatever it is done?”

“Take me back to your room, it will take me a little time to prepare the ritual to cast such a powerful spell.”

“I’ll be up in administration when you’re done my boy, I’ll wait there for you and the results.”

“So to get started, Nick sit here on the floor, Judy you sit facing him. I want you to join hands, once I start, you’ll feel a little strange at first, as I attune the spell to each of you. Then it will begin, each person is effected differently, no one ever has the same spirit journey, ok here we go.” 

Nick could feel himself drifting, there was a beautiful aura of red,green and black swirling in front of him, he exhaled and his eyes closed, suddenly it felt like he was traveling at great speed, his body began to tremble, his breathing accelerated, he saw images, people in black clothing who were doing incredible things, he hit a wall, and was thrown down hard, he looked up and saw a blazing sigil above him.

A voice was speaking. “This path leads to darkness, are you prepared to face what it brings? You will never be able to go back Nicholas P Wilde, if you start down this path your life will be changed forever!”

“I didn’t let all of this weird crap stop me before, and I ain’t afraid of anything, you’re all in my mind.”

“Very well I see her, through your eyes, is she the reason you tread this deadly path you are now on?”

“I love Judy, we agreed to do this whatever it is, so just get on with it, I have things to do.”

“Aren’t you just an insolent bastard, I am your guide on your spirit journey and you speak to me like I am some kind of thug, very well here take it, and be damned Nick Wilde. Your soul will forever rue this day, but if love sustains you then, maybe just maybe you won’t die as the transformation alters you, good bye Nick! I Hope you survive.”

Judy gazed at the aura of shadowy darkness, she swallowed it frightened her but it was still Nick sitting there across from her. Then she felt a jolt like an electrical current go through her body, she spiralled down , picking up speed until she came to a ancient tree, the thing glowed in the swirling mist.

“So another Hopps finally comes to me, after all of these long eons, I see you are attuned to fire,earth and interesting, very very interesting you can manipulate void energy, how can a child of the Hopps family touch that most terrible of powers, come closer, I must feel this,touch my trunk, and I will help you my child.” 

Judy reached out and touched the rough bark of the tree that was speaking to her, “What are you exactly? Are you inside me?”

“I am a spirit guide, I have been part of your family since the dawn of time, when your ancient ancestors called out to me to unlock your magic, you’re very powerful, I sense a union it was done in the old way, I can see now where the void power came from, you married a fox didn’t you?”

“Yes Nick and I we fell in love and...and we just got married, the red and green balls there circling me seem friendy, but the big black ball feels...it feels very very angry, why is it angry?”

“The void power, I will unlock it for you Judy, but I am not a spirit of the void, you will have to find another to show you how to make it part of you, the Void hasn’t had a new devotee in nearly 12 centuries, it’s angry because many people abused its power a very long time ago, it might prove difficult to gain control over that power, the void will be a constant companion always testing you till the day you are destroyed. Oh that’s another thing, once you go down this path you will become, well different, it will become apparent if you survive the transformation your body will change. I am sorry but to gain something, something else must be given up, take care and don’t take the easy path my child.”

Nicks body felt like it was on fire, he could feel a fever burning inside him, something dark, and poisonous crept through his blood as it filled him, he was breathing hard it felt like his muscles were being tied in knots.

He started to sweat, his blood felt like it was boiling now, he pushed forward, he could do this, he was in control. A howl escaped his lips but he never heard it, the pain was nearly unbearable  
He had to focus, he had to force it to obey him,it was like a snake coiling inside his body.

Judy began to shiver, the pain sent jolts to her stomach, it ran like a live wire up her spine, she screamed, the pain in her stomach felt like something was clawing its way out of her, she began to bleed, the pain increased the darkness encased her heart, fire surged through her, earth went to her head, power swirled. In agony she screamed again she could feel her body being wrenched, and altered by the power that had been unlocked inside, she knew she was bleeding why was that happening, the angry ball of darkness surged up next to her in her mind and told her.

“Your spirit guide told you, you would have to give something up, you gain the power to wield elemental forces but loose the power to create life, as payment. I am the void, the peace of the afterlife, the darkness that consumes everything, I am the ultimate expression of oblivion. Do you want to be my partner?”

“Nick and I can never have children?” Judy’s howl of anguish at that truths revealment, went soul deep. “How long must I endure this cruelty? What else is happening to me?   
“You are being reborn, you will no longer feel the effects of aging, you’ll be nearly immune to everything except magic, and of course losing your head, welcome to immortality I hope you enjoy it after eons go by. Now why don’t you run along and meet fire and earth I’m sure they will be overjoyed to bow and scrape to you as servants, I will not be like them. I can not be tamed only made a partner, never a slave.”

The green and red balls of energy came forward once Void left their new mistresses consciousness center. I am earth, she is fire I am sorry but when he is here, we can not as yet be in his presence, his level of Chi is to far above us, we must mature more before we will be able to be able to join in any way with him, neither of us has ever been in a joining with him.”

Nicks brain felt like a vice had been brought to bear, and his skull felt like it was being crushed.  
Colburn felt the surge of another immortal being birthed, he looked at them both, a very powerful void using mage, and an immortal shadow blade, his father would literally be ecstatic to learn another shadow blade had been born to the Wilde family heritage, that was going to be hard to disguise, they’d need to make sure he learned how to die every fifty to sixty years, dammit the void power in Judy was a terror, only his father knew how to use void magic, dammit that was going to be a serious problem.

Finally the void essence inside of Nick merged with him fully, Nick finally opened his eyes he could taste blood in his mouth he’d bitten his lip in the pain, but he could smell her blood to.  
The front of Judy was covered, but it looked like it had stopped he saw her shudder and she was falling over backward,he reached out and halted her fall. 

Her breathing was rapid and shallow, finally she opened her eyes and Nick could see tears  
starting to trail down her cheeks. She dove into his arms and the anguish of her existence spilled out as she told him the horrible truth. “We can never have children Nick, I’m sorry I didn’t know, can you forgive me?!” His gentle arms enfolded her, his kiss was tender.

“Well I’m in the same boat, Immortality for giving up the ability to create life, I feel used and abused right now, why weren’t we told, about that, before you put your voodoo on us!”

“I told you each persons journey is different, I never in a million years thought either of you would become Immortals like me, you are only the second and third beings I have ever encountered who went down my path, by the horns, this is going to cause some serious issues, it complicates everything, your whole lives will have to be erased.

Everyone who has ever known you will need to have their memory erased, every bit of information about you will need to be purged, you both will cease to exist in the memory of everyone Dad will insist on it, due to the nature of immortality needing to be kept secret from the rest of the world. There are things out there that would love to taste immortal blood and become like us.” 

Judy continued to cry in his arms, her family would never knew she existed, their lives were going to be erased, everything they had achieved would disappear. She held tight to him and finally got up. He helped her to the bathroom, the blood coating her had run down her legs, she got in the shower, and just cried watching the blood wash away.

Nick climbed in the shower with her and held her, reassuring her he would be there for her.  
His gentle kisses felt soothing dreams had been shattered, but they still had each other, and now well if she understood what had happened, they were going to be around a very long time together.

“Think we’ll ever get tired of one another carrots?” His tiny grin made her start to giggle.

“Who else could ever put up with a hustler like you , I feel so strange Nick I can see things now there are streams of energy all around me. I asked what they are, it’s the elemental flux created by everything in the world, it’s beautiful but it’s also a little scary. I have a power that seems to be very angry inside me to, the other two are afraid of it, I don’t like it, it feels so angry.”

Colburn left the young couple to go and make this startling report, dad was going to lose his mind when he heard he had two new immortals to erase, it wasn’t like when he was born, today technology was the enemy of immortals, it recorded everything.

He straightened his clothes, and opened the door to the office. “Well what’s the verdict my boy?”

“You better sit down, this one is going to peel your mind. Dad they both are immortals, just like me, I couldn’t have forseen what happened. I thought at most we would have a stealther with Nick and a sensor with Judy, Nick is a Shadow blade and Judy it turns out is a void using mage, before you go insane, I think it’s because Judy and Nick were joined in the old way dad, that’s the only thing that explains it. Their blood became one, and now you have a void using mage, dad when was it you met another void user?” 

Riojin pondered that question as he tried to process what he’d just been told. 2,100 years ago during the last sin war was the last time I saw another void user, I imagine her void power must be frightening her right now, all because of what happen back then, I’m the only one that can help her sooth that power inside her, she must be losing her mind right about now. I’ll take care of this, talk to Nick you need to show him how to use the powers he now has.”

“Make sure you explain void touch, he might do that unconsciously he needs to understand that.”

“Let me do what you asked before you start telling me what to do like a child, ok!” Colburn left  
and headed back to the room where Judy and Nick were. His father had trailed after him in his wake, it was hard enough being the kid of dragon, but getting saddled with immortality to was a hard pill to swallow, it always had been.  
Colburn cleared his throat when he went back in, it appeared the couple might still be in the shower, he could hear the water running. Judy came out a towel wrapped around her, spotting   
Riojin she went to the door and put her robe on for modesty's sake. She walked over and grabbed Nicks robe as well,going back to the door she explained that the dragon was here and his prudish attitude likely needed appeasing. Colburn snickered and pointed a finger at his dad with a shame shame gesture.

“Boy you know why I can’t see that, you know it’s because when I do I can’t control my reactions you know how long its been since. Your mother died!” 

“Dad that’s nothing but an excuse and you know it! Mom told you to find love again, when she died she made you promise her you would find love again and not pine away for the rest of your life because you lost her to mortal death, and it’s high time you stopped punishing yourself for what happened old age dad, old age killed her.”

“But were not here to dig up the past, you better start explaining to Judy what to do about that huge ball of void energy she has coursing through her body now, I’ll take Nick down to the work out room on level 7 and I’ll get him through the basics .”

Riojin sighed his son didn’t understand how difficult what he so easily put down to bad behavior was to do, the ache was always with him, he stopped to consider his new student could she touch the void energy even he was about to find out.

“Alright the big black ball of magic inside you is frightening isn’t it? Let’s see if you can actually manipulate it, I want you to picture in your mind a calm place, whatever you think would be the most calming place to go, I picture a tall mountain where I can rest my mind but your refuge can be whatever works for you.”

Judy sat at her desk and tried to think of where she felt the calmest, a place where she felt at peace. The tiny cabin that she and Nick had used on their honeymoon kept coming up she concentrated and followed what he was telling her to do,gradually she built a refuge in her mind, then waited for further instructions.

“Alright now here comes the hard part, open the door to your refuge and summon the void power, it is going to be angry, but you are letting it into your most precious of places, this is where your chi resides,where the raw stuff of magic is transformed into the spells we use to protect ourselves.”

“The void isn’t like the other elementals it is a power unto itself, you have to become truly one with it, he isn’t easy to deal with, he feels he’s been betrayed and will question your motives Judy, just open your heart and let him see you only want to become one, it won’t be easy but try.”

Judy opened the door to the cabin in her mind and called out to the huge ball of darkness it came at her call but it glowed darkly and she could see black spar swirling out of it. “What do you want betrayers like you took my power and forced me to do things that cost the lives of so many innocents, now you call to me.” It stopped talking when she sat down and opened her inner most doors to that place only truth could exist, he dove in he would know the truth was she like the others or pure of intent.

Riojin watched as judy’s pupils dilated, here was the true test if she could handle void energy.  
He watched as her breathing accelerated, she began to shake, he could feel the void elemental diving deeper and deeper into her center, normally elementals only touched the surface to sense the truth,this one was headed to her core, he prayed it found what it wanted to know, if not it could get very messy in a couple seconds, after ten minutes Judy finally opened her eyes, the dark ball of anger had kissed her, and the warmth she felt now was it’s happiness, she had been found true, and he was now her partner already he was explaining to her how to do basic things.

Riojin smiled that had been a very deep bonding, but he could see the shadow of the void now surrounding Judy’s heart, well now for some very basic training in how to use magic.

Colburn entered the room he was technically a shadow user, blades were just one expression of how the power manifested. “So Nick the first thing you have to learn is to focus your chi energy, it will manifest when you do into a weapon,usually a melee weapon of some kind, lets see where your focus lies, maybe you should sit and.”

A shadowy Katana surged out of Nicks right palm into his hand like he was born to it, Colburn stared, he hadn’t even had to concentrate it was like breathing to Nick. 

“Next!” Nick could feel the energy coiling in his hand, it manifested as a katana, but that wasn’t really what it was it was an expression of chi, focused energy in a shadow form that could be wielded to main and kill.

“I’m impressed, I have never seen anyone able to focus like that so easily, ok how about seeing if you have any ranged abilities, try hitting the target on the wall there.”

Nick had a bit more trouble with this but was able to manifest three shadowy Kunai at last and hit the target, the shadow blades that left his hand soon dissipated without a connection to his chi but they would be effective weapons for ranged strikes.

“Well melee taken care of, ranged attack is good, anything else in there that might be an attack?”

“I think there is, but I don’t think it’s meant to be used inside.”

“Ok give me an idea, describe what you think it does.”

Nick thought what would this power surge he felt he could tap do if it were to come out, well he tried to describe it as a big surge of power, that came directly from the place in his center.

“Ok so whatever it is it’s big, I can feel it takes a little while to create it, but when its released.”

“It goes boom Nick, that's a shadow bomb, don’t use it in enclosed spaces unless you want to bring the roof down on top of you. By the horns that’s a very advanced technique for someone fresh out of the womb so to speak,lets do a little more then I’ll let you take a break,using shadow chi is exhausting.

They went through another few attacks and sat down to just discuss how chi energy worked. 

“Basically you’re a battery Nick, your spirit absorbs elemental energy from everything around you and focuses it into the attacks that you can use now, does that help? If you like I can give you one of the old training manuals, can you read animallian?” 

“I never studied any foreign languages, any other way to get a better grasp on this?”

“Well I could see if the staff here could run a translation and put it into the system library, that might take a few days, in the meantime you should start learning how to focus and for gods sake do not try using shadow bomb unless you go to the disposal range outside right?”

“Got it no big booms unless I am in the bomb disposal area, so tell me something your last name is Wilde isn’t it?”

Colburn stared at Nick he had taken his mothers maiden name only to keep his fathers heritage a secret, but no one had ever asked before well not recently. Not since all of his friends had died, fighting against an evil religious regime.”

“How did you know that?”

“Because you look exactly like my uncle Burt, I take after my moms side of the family, but you could be my uncle.”

Colburn nodded they technically were many generations removed but in the same family.”I guess I would be a relative at least, but I have never associated with any of my relatives due to being an Immortal. It’s the same reason your being erased from memory, normal people can’t know Immortals exist.”

“All right Judy now focus, can you feel the energy moving when you concentrate on the target?”

She looked down range at the target and pictured bolt of fire leaping from her hand a spark fizzled out and dropped to the ground five feet in front of her, Riojin sighed.

“Try again, hmmm one second let me do something.” He concentrated on ice and formed an icy servant. He released it and told Judy to attack it, or it would attack her, he stood well back and this time the bolt of fire raged out of her outstretched hand. It consumed the ice servant then blistered the paint on the wall. “Control you have to learn control, it’s not some gun firing bullets its a living part of you.”,She got it under control, and the flare of power subsided,”There much better did you feel how you did that it’s like dialing back the flow on a hose, gently apply control pressure and the flow stops.”

They had been working the last three hours on simple power flow manipulation, he hadn’t even tried to let her use any real spells yet, the most basic things needed to be taught first. “All right now lets try to use a summoning this is one of the simplest spells reach to one of your elements and grasp it lightly now you always begin with the elements name, it gathers the attention of that element and awakens the channels to direct your chi flow.”

Judy reached in and lightly grasped the void power, it’s eyes drifted to her she was the mistress, but she was sadly a low level apprentice but it looked like she was intent on using him for the simple summoning wait until she saw what came out, her incantation was flawless the girl had grasped the proper tone if not the perfect inflection it didn’t matter what mattered was intent, and she had that down to a science.”

The 12 foot monster of void energy surged up out of the floor and stood over his mistress, protection aura at full her focus was spot on he moved and explored the training room surroundings, then felt her release command he dissipated back into the elemental plane.

“That was excellent, but why did you use Void energy? Was it hard to control it or is it getting easier to focus it, your void connection is pretty large, I wondered about connections being made through blood, it seems my theory was correct, elementals can be transferred through blood contact.”

“Whats next I was supposed to report to the sleep teacher almost an hour ago I need to finish my lessons, and then we can continue. Judy nodded to him and left to go to other training, he understood but this interruption was a pain in the ass. Oh well nothing for it but to wait, he noticed some residual energy drifting around the area, and concentrated, he would need to tell her to cleanse an area once she was finished with it, the void power was still hot. 

He cleansed it and returned it to whence it came. “I forget how much it takes to train a student she doesn’t know anything, it’s a wonder she hasn’t caused an earth quake or burned something down yet.” He was talking to himself again,he needed to stop doing that, someone might think he was insane.

“So Nick you’ve done pretty good for today get some rest you’re going to feel like eating a lot  
today, your body needs to learn you will be burning more energy as you continue to perfect skills, now show me the shadow hand one more time then we’ll break for the day all right?”

Nick concentrated and the shadow he summoned surged across the floor and reached out and grabbed the bar,he reeled it back and his body rocketed forward along the hands path. “That was really good control Nick you’re grasping things pretty quickly, see you tomorrow, at 9 and we’ll pick up at shadow summoning.”

Today had been eventful he’d learned how to manipulate his chi to form the shadow hand and trained with it till he felt confident in using it, Colburn had proven to be a relentless teacher but he was precise about things, Nick liked that about him.

He met Judy on her way back from he language lesson, and she reached out to grab his hand.   
“Well how did your day go?” Nick grinned, she was up to something he knew after the sleep teaching she would really be in need of some release but she didn’t seem intent on getting right to the serious fun just yet.

“I learned how to summon my chi and use it for a skill called shadow hand, it comes in handy for climbing sheer surfaces or blocking attacks, Colburn says I’m doing pretty well for someone just starting out, you ok babe you seem preoccupied with something?”

I ah… I learned an interesting thing today, but it’s something I have to do with you, do you feel up to trying it, when we you know.”

“Am I being propositioned by my wife to do something naughty?” His grin made her giggle.

“Yes sir I want to have you, in any crazy way, but I have something to try, it should be exciting.”

“Ok on one condition we eat first I am starving.”

They headed to the dining room and had a huge meal someone had told the cooks their dietary needs had changed, and the helpings they got were just what they both needed.

As they walked back Judy whispered to him to stop for a sec she needed him to stand very still.  
Judy focused and allowed the elemental energy to envelop Nick, he stood there, and he felt a bit of power wash over him.”So what do you think?” Nick looked down at himself and his body was concealed by whatever she had done.

“It’s a invisibility aura, I can see you but everyone else will see just me walking along.”


End file.
